Lost 2/3 of Audio System

This morning, I had to apply braking rapidly and firmly to avoid a cell phone addict. As I came to a stop MY AUDIO SYSTEM CUT OUT -- or, at least most of it cut out.

I have rear, door speakers only. No sub. No front speakers. (RTL, BTW)

I am certain that it cut out at the precise moment of the panic stop.

My question: Where are the fuses for output to speakers? I say fuseS because I have some of the audio but not most of it. The guy at the Honda dealer just said, "that's not possible." Don't want to take it to him.

Either a physical thing moved during hard braking and opened a circuit in the process, or the ABS caused a surge that blew something. Please help !!!!

I heard the gas tank slosh for the first time this morning because it's the first time I've driven the Ridge w/o stereo in six months. Help.

Speakers are not normally fused. So your loss of front audio and sub is not likely to be a fuse. I believe the amplifiers in the HU are contained in the HU itself (I have not verified) so it is not likely to be a fuse for an amplifier. Maybe the HU has more than one fuse - one for the radio/cd part and one or more for the amplifier sections.

Possibilities:

1. the amplifier circuit for the front speakers is blown. maybe the panic stop caused something to shift and caused the speaker wires to short. That might burn out the amp.
2. the amplifier circuit for the sub is blown
3. the speaker wires to the front door and sub somehow became disconnected. This seems very unlikely to happen to three wires at the same time.
4. the multi-connector at the HU itself is now loose and just the front door speakers and sub were disconnected.

I think that the most likely cause is #4, unless you do not have the factory OEM speakers. When I was upgrading my OEM speakers to the Infinity speakers, some bonehead let the speaker terminals touch the door frame when the speaker was fastened to the door. When I powered up the radio I heard a slight pop and then almost no audio. If you have the factory speakers all of that is highly unlikely due to the way that the wires and connectors are physically arranged. I also doubt that there are fuses for the front, rear and sub woofer. That gets back to the head unitself or the wiring harness and connectors. In any case, don't try to turn up the volume to try to force it to work. That will only make a bad problem worse. Just for the heck of it, you might try to remove power from the radio for a few minutes by pulling the fuse for it. That is like Control-ALT-Delete. Make sure that you have the anti theft codes available. Stranger things have happened. It might be easier than a trip to the dealer for service. Good luck.

I read the copious amount of info on this site and I am old enough to forget most of it :p
But I think I remember someone with a similar problem. Could not find thread.
I believe he said the radio was cutting in and out when he went over some bumps. The problem was the connector to the HU was loose causing a intermittent connection. Might look at that ( and it does actually make sense when you think of it)
EDIT- I found the thread- http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=375&highlight=loose+connection
Check out posts # 21 and 25

4. the multi-connector at the HU itself is now loose and just the front door speakers and sub were disconnected.

I think they've got it, I'd look at this one first.

That is some serious braking power to cause the connectors to pull out. :eek:

That is some serious braking power to cause the connectors to pull out.

Yesterday someone pulled out in front of me and I slammed on my brakes - I was shocked at how quickly I stopped. I guess if the Ridgeline can stop when it is pulling 5,000 pounds then it is a piece of cake to stop with no load.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and insights!!!

I went to the other Honda dealer in town (Chapman). They had a tech who got right on it. He was not too familiar with all things Ridgeline because, in his words, "we haven't had any repairs on these things." (Now, that's music to our ears, right?)

Anywho, he works for a while and then comes to talk to me. Have you added aftermarket speakers to this thing? Yes, I reply, got the Infinity speakers at Circuit City. Aha, he says....

Next thing you know, he's got the driver side door panel off and he pulls the speaker. As soon as the second screw came out, the system came back to life. The spade lugs on the back of the speaker were contacting the door. Apparently this occured upon braking. Inspecting the hole under the speaker, I can tell you I was LESS than impressed with the quality of workmanship that the CC guys had accomplished on the intall. There were a bazillion holes where they had tried to make the speaker work. It looked like a monkey had spent an hour with a DeWalt.

Anyway, the tech lined the opening with foam tape and reinstalled the speaker. All is well.

Of course, this was all none of Honda's responsibility (except for the crappy OEM speakers that put me on this path in the first place), therefore I was charged 1.5 hours of tech time (a bargain, I think). I took the bill immediately to CC and spoke to the manager. He repeatedly said "you should have brought it here in the first place." I said (repeatedly) that I did not know that the problem was the result of his work and went to Honda for a diagnosis. After he said that I should have brought it there in the first place for the third time, I said I felt we were fortunate that a 700 dollar head unit wasn't wrecked in the situation. He shut up. Supposedly, he is contacting their "insurance company" to get the money to cover the bill from Honda. He didn't say anything about my time, gas, angst so I guess none of that is important to CC.

I'll keep you posted about the final outcome. As it stands, I guess I'll have to take the damn door panels off myself in time to check all the work.

Thanks again for all your help!!!