Well, I feel a little dumb, but I'm happy to report that my problem is fixed. It seems that the speaker wires going to the rear speakers were not making a solid connection in the external crossover. I could not pull the wires out (they where tight) but I guess the connections were not solid. I just disconnected all of the wires, and reconnected them...and everything seems to work fine now. I really thought it was something else. Ha!

Hey I really appreciate that, LJ. I will see what I find this weekend.

For those of you interested, here is a response from someone at Harmon (parent company of Infinity?) about their "true 4ohm" speakers, and how they are fine to use an all head units.


 

Hey Guys,

Andy from Harman here...I'd like to clear this up, if I can without having to get too technical.

 

First, we didn't just decide to make our speakers 2-ohms without doing some serious testing and verifying that it works and that the "technology" is sound. We tested lots of factory and aftermarket head units and none of them failed. Many made more power. A few made less distortion (which was a surprise) AND more power, but none of them failed. In the two years that we've been selling 2-ohm speakers, we have NEVER had a radio fail because it's been hooked up to our speakers. In every case where an installer has suspected that our speakers have caused problems, we've helped them trace wires and measure resistance and have found some other problem...poor connections, short circuits and the like.

 

In our test, the head unit was connected to the speakers with a 1-foot pieces of wire. That's short compared to the lengths of wire that connect your head unit to your speakers in your car and the wire contributes some additional resistance. Furthermore, after you've played the speakers for a few minutes in the car, the voice coils get hot (that's one of the laws of Physics) and their resistance increases. When that happens, our speakers look to the radio like a 4-ohm speaker and a 4-ohm speakaer looks more like a 5.5-ohm speaker. We're simply giving you back the power that you lose when you actually install the speakers in the car.

 

Some of you might be surprised to discover that MANY factory speakers are, in fact, 2-ohm speakers and replacing them with 4-ohm speakers DEGRADES the performance of the head unit.[/quote

Just to add more info, the speakers in question are Infinity Kappas. I've tested the resistance across the coils with a DMM and they measure a little over 3ohms...3.2 if my memory serves me.

I just sat in my car and messed with the stereo for a while. Mysteriously, the speaker in question worked fine for a few minutes, then started to randomly cut out, then I lost all sound. Interestingly, if I cranked the sound way up, the speaker would come back on. I'm starting to think I have a bad connection somewhere. Also, the first time the speaker cut out (weeks ago), I remember hitting a bump turning onto a side street. I thought it was a coincidence.

I'll report back. Regardless, I think I'm going to get rid of the Infinity speakers....the 2ohm vs 4ohm thing seems sketchy to me. These oem stereos are a pain in the ass to get replaced or repaired...I dont want to shorten the life of a new or remanufactured unit.

I will check the speakers again, but I doubt they are blown. I would guess that the OEM speakers are 4ohm. The Infinity speakers are what the company calls "true 4ohm". The voice coils are 2ohm, but in theory, the amp sees a 4ohm device due to the resistance of the thin wires used in cars.

I thought the same thing, Tim. I did some research, and Infinity says that they have never had one of their speakers damage an OEM amp.

Hey guys,

A little while ago I found out that my stock head unit was not turning off and was draining my battery. Long story short, I bought a remanufactured replacement block from oem car audio, and after a week the rear speakers stopped working. I'm on my 3rd unit from them, and now only 1 of my rear speakers work. My rear speakers are "true 4ohm" from Infinity, but I read that they will not damage a head unitl (despite peoples beliefs).

I'm pretty fed up with the situation. I'm thinking about just buying an aftermarket headunit, and using the metra cubby kit.

Does anyone know why the rear channels would stop working after a short period of time? I know the speakers are good as they both worked for a few days after the install. This has happened twice now. I'm guessing the "remanufactured" amp is just old and junk.

Thanks

I was just looking under my car yesterday, and the flex pipe on my ceramic DC headers is shot. What are my options to fix it?

I just wanted to report that I bled the entire brake system today, and my brakes now feel better. Thanks guys!

Thanks for the replies. I'm going to bleed the entire system tomorrow. Hopefully that does the trick. I just use the old school method of having a friend pump the brake pedal for me.

Hey guys,

This weekend I replaced both of the rear calipers on my 2003 EX coupe. The parking brake mechanism seized on one side, and I figured the other side wasn't far behind. I got everything back together, bled the brakes until I saw no more air bubbles and tightened everything up. Now the brake pedal seems to be "soft" or "light" the first 1-2 inches when I press the brake pedal, then it gets firm towards the bottom. The car seems to stop ok....just feels different to me. I can hear the shift-interlock click when I just tap the brake pedal in park...so something must be happening the first 1-2 inches that I press the pedal.

Anyone have a similar experience? Do you think I still have air in the system? I pinched off the brake lines and made sure the master cylinder didnt go dry while bleeding. I think I did it right.

Thanks!

I'm also in the same boat here. I replaced my front and rear brakes summer 2010, the fronts are wearing fine, the rears have concentric rust rings on the rotors. About 2 months ago I took the rear calipers off, and the slide pins were stuck. I cleaned them off, lubed them up, and re installed. After driving a couple of days, I checked the rear rotors, and the rust rings were getting worn off. I thought I had fixed the problem. Now 2 months later, the problem has returned. Maybe I just need to really lube them up again. Is it worth replacing the slide pins or anything?
 

The other speaker is in better condition, but the same "melting" effect is starting to appear on two sections of the rubber surround as well.

Well, I live in the south...and my car sits in the sun everyday. In terms of over excursion...its being driven by an oem head unit...and I never play music more than moderately loud.

So back in July I installed a new pair of Infinity 6x9's in my rear deck. 3 months later, I noticed the sound was starting to sound like crap. I popped the grills and found that the rubber surrounds have 'melted'. What the heck? Anyone seen this before?

Tim, did you ever move to Ohio? My family still lives in Cincinnati...I still bring my accord up there from time to time.