Water leaking through speaker grill?

Be prepared to pay ~$115 taking it to the dealer. They won’t cover the time to diagnose it and any repairs if they determine it’s due to the aftermarket speaker. You should take it back to Best Buy when it’s raining and occurring or have them show you what’s going on behind the panel so you can see. There is either a gap somewhere, or perhaps when removing the panel they didn’t get the window seal gasket seated right or something allowing excess water to come in. Something isn’t right. Especially if you had no problems prior to the new speaker install

 

Have you ever seen what is behind the panel, specifically how they installed the speaker?

I have 6x9s in my 2010 which originally had 6.5 and I used an adapter, plus the installer had to cut a little bigger hole for the bigger magnet to fit. If they didn't do that, that could be the problem.

 

Just pull the panel off and take a look at what they did. It's really pretty simple. Loads of threads here for how to remove one.

 

I wonder what an aftermarket speaker though could do to cause it?
Should water even be getting inside the door panel to begin with?

 

Take the door panel off and see what they did, maybe they tore the plastic that acts as a water shield. And yes water gets past the glass, that is why there are drain holes in the bottom of the doors.

 

Yeah some small amount of water gets in, that’s why the doors have those plastic vapor barriers installed on them and the tiny drain holes at the bottom of the door itself. But it shouldn’t be enough to cause a visible leak through the speaker grille every time it rains.

 

I had a car back in the 1980s that got damaged in an accident that would leak water very similar to that. After I pulled the door panel off I found that the body shop did not replace the plastic water shield.

 

You can take the panel off in a couple of minutes to take a look. The door is designed to let a little bit of water in and that's why it has drains. Use a paperclip to make sure the drain is clear. If the door is getting filled with water you should hear it slosh while driving. Try using a garden hose to try to duplicate the problem.

 

I actually left it at the dealer and let then run under shower for 2 days, and it didn't leak. They couldnt replicate the problem. It only leaks out during a really heavy and prolonged rain. Drains are clear. Its bizarre.

 

Take the door panel off, you might park at a certain angle that is causing it to come thru, it honestly sounds like they cut or removed the water shield plastic.

 

Thanks everybody for the advice -

I decided I'm just going to take it to the dealer. Should I expect them to try and blame it on the speaker? How could the speaker be responsible for this leak? I put the new speakers on right when I got the car, so maybe the leak was always there.

 

I would just pull the panel the next time you see water. It shouldn't be that hard to see what's wet behind the panel and where it's coming from.

 

Dealer doesn't warranty hypotheticals.

 

What a helpful post. Thanks

 

Mine does the same thing, though on the drivers side. Sucks cause the water gets into the speaker then freezes... sounds terrible till it melts. Im going to get some of those foam baffle things this summer to install behind the speakers.

 

What is the water shield plastic? When they had the door taken off at best buy, I didn't notice any plastic anywhere.

 

A sheet of plastic, like a tarp almost. Once you pull the panel it is stuck to the metal inside of the door frame.

 

As mentioned above, as soon as you pull the door panel off you have a heavy sheet of plastic glued around the door to prevent any water from getting to the door panel.

 

This is an example that I grabbed from the Audio section of the forum, the Green Plastic is the Water Shield.

 

Thanks -
Must that water shield be removed to change out the speakers?