I've been trying to troubleshoot an audio issue in my '04 Monte and believe my amp is dead. I was wondering if there's anything I can do to confirm that this is my problem or if I need to take it into a car audio shop.

First, some details. About a month back, I returned from a week's vacation to find out my radio wasn't working. It turned on fine, but no sound came out. It started working again the next day, but then died for good a week or so later. I have an aftermarket radio installed with the GM adapter so I tried putting the factory radio back in, but same thing. After going through the forums here, it sounded like my amp was dead.

So first off, is there anything I can do on my own to confirm it is the amp? If it does turn out that it's the issue, what would you recommend I do? Should I bypass the amp altogether or just buy a new one? I have an old Sony amp in storage somewhere. Would it be worth it to replace the factory amp with it? Let me know your thoughts. Thanks.

 

Welcome to the Monte Carlo Family.
Sorry 2 read about your problem. Please check back later to see if any of our super audio tech member's can assist.
Until then U may want to check out the below links to see if any of the information contained will help you...Good Luck
How to Troubleshoot and Fix a Dead Car Speaker | eHow.com


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Have you checked all fuses?

Also sounds like there could be a potential loose wire, I would check the amp itself to make sure everything is connected.

The amp is located under the rear deck, you you will need to get in the trunk to check, you will see that there is 2 wires, one on each side, I would check to make sure those are connected first, if that's not it then I would look into the fuses then maybe starting to consider that it's a bad amp.

To me it just sounds like you may have some wiring loose.

 

Yah you would have to do all of it yourself as well. Most car audio shops wont work on factory stuff.

 

Everything is plugged into the amp OK. Tried disconnecting and reconnecting the harnesses, but no luck. You mention fuses, but is there actually more than one of them I should be looking at? Their appears to be a single fuse powering the radio and amp. I wouldn't be surprised if it had something to do with it, though. The day after I first had the problem, I actually took it out just to confirm that it was powering the radio and not just the speakers and the radio would not come on with it disconnected. i put it back in, though, and everything started working again. It was possibly just a coincidence (I hadn't checked to see if things were working since the day before) and I've tried the same trick again since then and no luck.

 

i would just replace that fuse altogether, seems like a dumb thing to do but it seems like your system worked for a bit after you replaced the fuse and then stopped again

 

At the very least, it's worth a shot. Would certainly be a cheap, easy fix.

 

yeah, other than that, I would think you may be right with the amp, but the fuse would be the cheapest idea

 

If you need one I have an extra amp laying around. I ordered it from a member here and never installed it, I just bypassed mine because it wouldn't fit. Its meant for an 04.

 

So no real surprise, it wasn't the fuse. I assume it has to be the amp. Unless anyone has any other ideas, I'll try and bring it into a shop and have them take a look at it to confirm.


Might be interested. Let me make sure it is the amp first.