Popping Rear Speakers - Harmon Kardon

Hey guys, I've done some searching for this particular issue and not finding much out there. I just bought my 2003 330i from a private party and it's been great so far. I had it for about a week and when the first big rain storm started I noticed that my HK Speakers in the rear deck started popping (deep base sound) like crazy. I turned off the stereo immediately, but the popping continued. The next day the rain had stopped and the popping went away. We then had a couple weeks of little to no rain and I heard nothing. A couple days ago it rained really hard again and the popping started up again. It was louder this time, and again even did it with the radio off. I decided to look around the trunk and found about an inch or so down in the spare tire well, but no signs of moisture on the carpets or the mat. I noticed a little bit of moisture on the inside of the trunk a few inches below the latch (between the latch and the driver's side tailight). I'm guessing I should yank all the plastic and carpet out and have a look, but any idea what I should be looking for? Of course it's sunny now and the speakers have been working fine again, so I probably won't be able to recreate the problem. Thanks in advance for anybody's input!

Your trunk gasket might be busted.

An inch or two of water in the trunk is a big deal.

Originally Posted by zhp43867

Your trunk gasket might be busted.

An inch or two of water in the trunk is a big deal.

Thanks for the input. I assume the gasket is the same thing as the trunk seal right? I'm going to pull some of the trim off and look a little deeper. I noticed what looked like dirt mixed in with the water in that spot that looked like where the water was coming in, but couldn't see if it was from the seal area. Have you ever heard of water coming in through body seams where the welding was done? Cuz it looked like that could have been the culprit too.

Hmmmm, now today while i was listening to the radio, the stereo "popped", and I lost all sound. All the lights work, but none of the speakers are playing. The radio station still shows up on screen, but no sound. Ugh

You may havee a loose connection from the radio to the amp. The pop would be the connection making contact after a brief disconnect. Now that the loose connection has finaly worked itself completely loose you have no input to the amp, hence no output to the speakers. I'd check there first.

Originally Posted by Slapsys

You may havee a loose connection from the radio to the amp. The pop would be the connection making contact after a brief disconnect. Now that the loose connection has finaly worked itself completely loose you have no input to the amp, hence no output to the speakers. I'd check there first.

Thanks I'll check that out. Any idea where the amp is in this thing???

Originally Posted by aldeghij

Thanks I'll check that out. Any idea where the amp is in this thing???

Nope, sorry. I don't have the HK but my cd changer is in the trunk on the left hand side.

Originally Posted by Slapsys

Nope, sorry. I don't have the HK but my cd changer is in the trunk on the left hand side.

Thanks again, i'll do some digging.

The AMP is located in the rear left trunk behind the covering.

Well, it looks like my amp has gone out completely. Got another pop the other day and no more sound. Deck is still working and showing radio stations, but no sound. Pulled all the carpet out and looked around, can't figure out where the water is coming in. Urgh. Looks like i can get the amp used on ebay for $150-$200. Damn things are 800-1000 new....