JBL amp possibly shorted

I've searched up and down the forums and am having a hard time finding a similar issue. I've got a 2012 with the JBL upgrade and the other day I was driving down the highway when all sound cut out of my speakers. The head unit / touch screen works perfectly fine, but I've lost the ability to manipulate volume through the knob or steering wheel. I tried connecting my phone via usb just to see if I could get any sound that way and it didn't work. I went into the fuse box and pulled the "Radio2" 30amp fuse and it was blown; I went to replace it and the new fuse blew the second it made contact. Does anyone have any suggestions as to where to start troubleshooting? The local Toyota dealership quoted me $473 for an electrical diagnostic and I'd rather drive in silence for another 100,000 miles before I pay that. Thanks

 

You can do some basic troubleshooting but you’ll need a digital multi-meter. Luckily these are dirt cheap if you don’t already have one.

you’ll also need to actually access the amp, so that means pulling out all the plastic surrounding it.

if that fuse is immediately blowing, we either have a wire grounded somewhere (less likely) or a shorted amp (more likely)

 

Thanks for the reply. I'll go pick up a multi-meter and access the amp. Is a shorted amp something worth paying an audio shop to fix or is that an easy fix yourself?

 

I would disconnect the amplifier and see if the fuse doesn’t blow. That would narrow it down to the amp or something connected to it.

If it still blows with everything disconnected from the amp your issue is likely a short in the power feed to the amplifier.

 

Well, a shorted amp is pretty much toast. So not much fixing it, More so replacing it

 

Yeah, do this before even buying a meter. If the fuse is fine until the moment you plug the harness back into the amp, then the amp is shot (almost guaranteed)

 

Thanks to both of you, I really appreciate the help. I think the amp is just toast.

 

Okay I know this is late, but I have a question for all of you. I have a stock Entune system with no AMP, and this exact problem is happening to me. Did your interaction beep on the HU ever cut out at the same time as the audio? I do not think my stock system has an amp, but I am curious to find this wire harness that is shorting my whole system out...

 

I have a 2016 Tacoma TRD Off-Road with the JBL system. The other day, it worked, then it didn't the next morning... I tried a bunch of stuff, no luck. Bit the bullet and took it to the dealership. They said that there was a 20amp fuse popping in the fuse box under the hood, that was for the AMP with a ground short, and wanted $600 more dollars to do more electric trouble shooting. They made a BS assumptions about my LED bar in the grill and my chase light to the rear. None of witch have anything to do with the radio or AMP, and have been in the truck for years without issue. Needles to say I declined. When I got in my truck, it was obvious that they had been in the back seats as a bunch of my "gear" from the under-seat compartments and behind the back seats was not put back from where it came from. They had my truck for two days, so they must have already tested the AMP and either are incompetent or wanted to try and recoup some money knowing that the AMP fried. Granted this truck is about 6 years old, but only has 65K on it... the more time I have in silence, gives me more time to think about this issue, and after reading tons of stuff in the forums, this post is exactly what is going on with my Tacoma, and seems to be a common issue. Is this a JBL issue, or a Toyota issue. Its a bummer that this is my 5th Toyota truck, and none have had issues like this one. SAD FACE! My truck is white and the paint is starting to peal, and now my stereo and all the features that have to with audio don't work... so much for hands free on the phone! Hopefully the dealership sharpens their pencil and Toyota or JBL resolves these issues. On a side note... I spoke to a local family owned car stereo place that has been in my city since I was a kid, the first this the guy told me was "these AMP's are notorious for blowing up", but instead of trying to sell my a whole new system, he suggested that I look on line (eBay) to find a factory used replacement and install it myself, and that its pretty easy. I think I found one, but need to make sure its the correct part number, but still its like $300 for a used one. Pretty F@ck!ng sad right now.

 

Have you tried the above troubleshooting that @destin_meeks and @dolbytone suggested? That will tell quite a bit. If, as I suspect, the amp is blown, you really have 2 options. Pay market price for a new amp or replace system, headunit, amp and speakers. (Stock speakers won’t work with aftermarket amp, different ohm impedance)