Speaker magnet fell off

[audiophool]

After R&R the passenger's door to fix a broken handle (FIL is a handle yanker, don't get me started), I thought I'd open up the driver's side and see what was up.


The woofer on that door has never worked as long as we've had the car and I'd never bothered to look into it. The window on the driver's door has also always been slow, on the verge of feeling like it was going to break at any time.


Today was the day to dig in.


Once the door panel was removed and the liner peeled away, I peered into the void and saw the magnet had fallen off. Now these drivers are usually built to rigorous automotive standards, and you don't expect the magnet to fall off.



Now, being the cheapskate that I am, I started looking around for an OE speaker to replace it but came up empty. Seems most of the parts around here are from DSP systems that use 8 ohm woofers rather than the 2 ohm woofers on the base hifi system. So I thought I'd fix it.


Started by grinding off the four pins that aligned the magnet on the frame and had broken out. Taped the voice coil gap to keep the filings from gathering in the flux gap. After that, I cut the dust cap off the front of the speaker. You'll see why in a moment.



Once grinding was complete, I gave both surfaces a good cleaning. I had a couple of nearly spent tubes of JB Weld, so squeezed out a good dollop of each on the back of a business card and blended well. Buttered the magnet well away from the voice coil gap so the epoxy wouldn't squeeze in and glue the coil in place then aligned the coil to the gap and centered it then squeezed it down then moved the coil around until it didn't rub.


Using strips of plastic about 0.015" thick, I shimmed the gap, first testing all around to ensure it was even, then pressing the shims equally at four points. Once shimmed, I pressed the cone down until it sat deep to ensure alignment.


After curing overnight, the shims were removed and the cone moved freely without rubbing. I glued the cap back in place with some sillycone.


The speaker is tested and working.


Now, the window? The regulator is original 2004 with nearly 300,000km on the car. The reason it was slow was the guide channel rubber had pulled out of its track and was flopping around and wedging the glass. A little weatherstrip adhesive and it's pressed back in the channel. A little lube on the tracks and all is well.

[andrewwynn]

Excellent repair on the woofer! I have done a few speaker repairs including re gluing voice coil and replace surrounds. I love seeing people fix vs replace things it's very rare in 2019

5/5 stars. Bonus for the use of the phrase flux gap.

[audiophool]

Thanks. As I said, I'm a cheapskate. I also hate waste. Any time I can fix rather than replace parts I will.


Sure, the sound quality of the hifi system is pretty basic, but it's still worth having it sound as good as its capatilities allow.

[crystalworks]

Originally Posted by audiophool

Sure, the sound quality of the hifi system is pretty basic, but it's still worth having it sound as good as its capatilities allow.

It's excellent compared to the base system quality.

Nice repair though. Admittedly... I would have ordered an Ebay used speaker.