Moisture Inside Door Pannels

[Belo]

Hello everyone,

Hope someone here can help. I've been a DIY car audio guy for over 10 years. My system is in my sig.

I have polk 6501 component speakers. Have had them for over 3 years now. I once had to redo the connection because I did not secure the crossover well to the door and it came loose, while repairing and using industrial strength double sided tape I noticed some corrosion but it never affected the audio. Yesterday I noticed my audio wasn't as loud as it used to be... both left and right sides weren't working. I took the door apart to find some corroded connections and the passenger door woofer no longer working at all.

Interestingly enough Polk considers these marine grade, I've contacted them because I'd hate to buy a whole new set to replace just one woofer. I also can't seem to find anywhere I could repair the woofer. I had a 651 go bad on me and found it to be a solder joint that disconnected. I resoldered and she was good to go. I really do like the sound of these polks, but this is now the second issue with them.

Any suggestions on preventing this? What's the cause and is it normal?

reinstalled

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[calebkhill 10+ year member]

Seems you need to put a plastic barrier between the speaker, crossover, any electrical components, and the inside of the door

 

[boxpunch]

It's normal. That's the way doors are designed as to avoid the top of the door developing a rust problem. As rain/snow/water slides down the window it goes past the seal and into the door. Door bottoms have holes cut so that it drains out. No way of preventing water into the doors/ moisture in your car short of welding everything shut.

 

[d33p]

Water is normal.

Try mounting the crossovers on the same side of the door as the speaker. Of course pick a spot so that your door panel will still mount properly.

 

[calebkhill 10+ year member]

Take a big piece of thick plastic, push it threw the speaker hole. Adhere the plastic the outside of the speaker hole with waterproof sealant, mount speaker. You could line the plastic with deadening, foam, fiberglass insulation, something to prevent the plastic from rattling. Though if the plastic is thick enough you may have no worries

 

[Belo]

thanks for the advice guys. I'm wondering if spade terminals would help the crossover connections as well or make it worse?

Also hoping Polk will sell me just the woofer as I don't want to buy a whole new setup.

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

it is possible the woofers still work - wire them without the crossovers. only the tweeters NEED crossovers.

the crossovers are more likely to fail or the amp can go into protect due to moisture.

never mount crossovers inside doors. mount them on the surface of the door behind the panel so they stay dry. you can use weatherstripping foam to create an upside down "U" above the woofer to direct water away from the speakers. "Marine rated" is only for the cone and surround.

i've done this for door components where the crossovers had tweeter level adjustments that wanted to be accessible.

2005 Elantra GT with Type-R components

otherwise, the best location is back by the amps so they are accessible and dry.

 

[Belo]

i checked the woofer on the other crossover and also a stereo, it doesn't work. The good woofer did work on the other crossover. I never thought about mounting inside the door... not sure i'd want to drill holes... regardless the woofers bad and the crossover is good. thanks!

 

[Belo]

bought some of this today

Shop Gardner Bender 1-in x 1-ft General-Duty Electrical Tape at Lowes.com

to cover the crossover terminals. I liked this idea better than conductive grease that could short the wires. we will see. The biggest issue I found out, ended up being the soche speaker connectors that I bought so I could avoid splicing the factory wires. They were coroded beyond belief so I went ahead and spliced both sides, cleaned them good with electrical contact cleaner and will put this stuff on tonight. Have not heard back from Polk yet on buying just a woofer.

 

[Pearson 10+ year member]

I've had to buy a replacement speaker before (from Massive Audio) so hopefully Polk will let you do the same.

I have my crossovers back by my amps and I kinda rigged my speakers. I bought the foam surround (anyone off amazon), cut it in half, and mounted them so that it would cover the top portion of my speakers and have the water roll down around/past my speakers. They've been dry for months now.