I’ve posted this to newsgroups and a few other message boards and can’t get anybody to help me out. I’ve looked thoroughly and can find nothing. I also have the big service manual that I bought from Nissan, but it doesn’t say anything about it.
Anyway, I drive a '97 Nissan Maxima and blew the left rear speaker (this is not the optional Bose system). I have the new speakers, but I’m not sure how to remove the old ones. The speaker covers are actually attached to the carpet on my backdash and the speakers are under the carpet. I don’t want to cut them out, which, as far as I can tell, is what I’m going to have to do. I called the store I bought the speakers from, and they told me the whole backdash comes out somehow. They wouldn’t tell me how on the phone, but assured me they’d do a wonderful job for $80. I’d rather do it myself. So, does anybody have a clue how to replace these things. I’d appreciate any semblance of help I can get.
That $80 could well be a bargain but I’m like you in that I prefer to do my own work when I can. You might go to http://www.crutchfield.com/ where they have some resources and instructions for replacing factory speakers.
Generally the speaker covers will just snap in place; have you tried prying on them (carefully) a little bit with a screwdriver? I’m guessing you’ve already tried to access the underside of your speakers via the trunk, right?
I second Crutchfield. They send you complete instructions for replacing your speakers when you order a new set. And they carry some damn fine speakers.
Padeye/Saint: Thanks for the Crutchfield reference, but they’ll only give instructions if you buy the speakers from them. Unfortunately, I already have the speakers. Otherwise, that would be perfect. As far as I can tell, I can’t find a place on their site where I can order just the instructions. Let me know if I’m wrong.
Userer: That was the first thing I tried. That’s when I realized that the speaker covers aren’t snapped onto antyhing, they’re glued to the carrpet on the backdash. The carpet covers the entire backdash, including over the speakers, so you can see the speakers from the top. If I look at them from the trunk side, I can see the bottom of the screws coming through. Even if I got those lose, the speaker still has to come out the top.
Thanks anyway. If I don’t get this figured out by Saturday, I’m just going to pay somebody to do it.
Aglarond, if your car is anything like my Cadillac (and it may not be, but it’s worth a shot), try this:
Grab the bottom half of your back seat, push it towards the rear of the car and lift up. Your back seat bottom should come up, and you then remove it from the car.
At that point, you should see the seatbelt bolts, unscrew them, and whatever applicances hold the upper seatbelts into place.
Remove rear seat back.
Find out howe the rear deck is attached, and remove it.
All have tech tips and may be able to help you out. The last one has a good discussion forum where you can post questions like this for a more definitive answer. Happy hunting!
Thanks Meephead. One of the sites gave me an idea of where to look. I feel stupid for not doing this earlier. I’ve been using the $130 maintenance book that I ordered from Nissan. I never thought to go buy a $20 Chilton manual. I hit the book store, looked it up, and there it was. Turns out it’s pretty similar to the Cadillac. Shouldn’t take me very long to do. Thanks for your help everybody.
