2016 (2014-present?) Transit Connect Rear Door Speaker Replacement/Upgrade - How To

[dgotc]

I've gleaned so much from this forum about my little Connect that I thought I'd put up a few things I learned while replacing the rear door speakers. This is on my 2016 Transit Connect Titanium. One had a nasty voice coil rubbing buzz, probably from the door being slammed on a hill or something. This writeup assumes you're not putting stock Ford speakers back in. Here are the parts I used and the steps I took:

 

Parts:

1. 6.5" replacement car speakers of your choice. The Ford stock speakers (Part AA6T-18808-CA as read on the back) are rated at 25W and 4 ohms, so don't go too crazy here or aftermarket ones won't sound good with the stock head unit. The stock speakers are crappy, but develop more bass than a lot of aftermarket speakers. I used some cheap JBL CS762's. They are bright and not bass-y at all. Cheap.

2. Metra Electronics 72-5602. This adapts Ford's 4 pin connector to simple spade terminals to clip onto most aftermarket speakers. Modify as noted, below.

3. Harmony Audio HA-825605. They're for a bigger regular Transit and work fine for this application. These adapter rings required slight modification but saved me a few bucks. You can spend more and get the Metra adapters specified by crutchfield, if you want, but these work fine.

4. I suggest grabbing a bag of W713297-S300 clips from amazon or something. You'll probably break one or two and these just pop right in upon reassembly. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CJLB446/

 

Steps:

1. Remove sliding door interior panel

    a. remove the door handle trim by removing the little tiny plugs and pressing the tabs back to release the trim.

    b. remove the door handle lower trim with two Torx bolts (T27?). I can't remember the size but you're looking right at them at this point, soooooo.....

    c. pop up the upper trim starting at the ends enough to be able to remove the door panel - you don't need to take it off completely.

    d. remove the two torx screws pinning the door panel. One is visible with the door open when you standing at the rear of the car looking at the back edge of the door. The other is at the front bottom corner of the door in that tiny little pocket. I think they're T20.

    e. use a proper tool and pry off all the little clips holding the panel to the door. There are two or three along each edge. The top edge sort of hooks into the window seal. I just gently pried this over the seal and the clips at the top edge just popped off.

    f. The panel fully comes out while sitting in the back with the door closed. I had to remove the power window switch harness at this point.

2. Remove old speaker

    a. unclip the wire connector

    b. unscrew the 3 torx holding it in

    c. pull it out - there are two clippy things keeping it from falling out, but they are kind of worthless, so keep a hand on the speaker while doing this

3. Prepare the new speaker assembly to install

    a. on the adapter ring I used I needed to snap off a bunch of tabs for smaller speakers that interfered with the JBL's I chose. No biggie.

    b. after mocking everything up, and checking wire lengths and adapter/speaker/door/connector orientation, drill a 3/8" or 1/2" hole in the side of the plastic adapter ring in the desired location. I chose the rear facing portion of the ring away from mounting points.

    c. mount your speaker to the adapter

    d. since this was the rear door I didn't need the extra wires attached to pins 2 and 3 (two center pins) of the harness. I clipped them off to simplify the wiring bulk.

    e. run your harness adapter wires through the hole you drilled and connect them to the speaker terminals

    f. optional - I filled the hole with a blob of silicone to act as a vapor barrier and strain-relief

    g. carefully remove the foam backing from the old speaker and stick it to the new adapter ring.

4. Install the assembly to the door with the door closed and you inside.

    a. test

5. reinstall all the interior and trim.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope this is helpful to someone in the future. I was dreading doing this, but I also was curious about how to do it and couldn't find much info online.

Edited April 29, 2023 by dgotc
typos, revissions

[mrtn]

19 hours ago, dgotc said:

1. 6.5" replacement car speakers of your choice. The Ford stock speakers (Part AA6T-18808-CA as read on the back) are rated at 25W and 4 ohms, so don't go too crazy here or aftermarket ones won't sound good with the stock head unit. The stock speakers are crappy, but develop more bass than a lot of aftermarket speakers. I used some cheap JBL CS762's. They are bright and not bass-y at all. Cheap.

 

Massive writeup, man.

 

Just to clarify for inexperienced readers: the upgraded speakers lack bass because of inadequate amplification, not because the speakers are bad. OEM speakers require much less power to move sufficient amount of air but it's not as responsive and defined as with better speakers.

[dgotc]

On 6/3/2022 at 1:08 PM, mrtn said:

 

Massive writeup, man.

 

Just to clarify for inexperienced readers: the upgraded speakers lack bass because of inadequate amplification, not because the speakers are bad. OEM speakers require much less power to move sufficient amount of air but it's not as responsive and defined as with better speakers.

Thanks. That is exactly correct. The stock speakers are VERY efficient. They take little power to produce their various frequencies at equivalent volumes.

[dgotc]

After a few road trips I think these speakers sound pretty good. I turned up the bass and put the fade setting slightly to the back to give them a little more power. No complaints over stock setup. Can't really complain much for the cost, anyways.

[dgotc]

I just did the Right side. This car was serviced at the dealer it's whole life until I got it. They dropped one of the handle bracket bolts into the door, which I found when it was apart, and then ram-rodded a 1/4-20 hex bolt into the brass insert. The insert spun in the plastic when I tried to remove the bolt. I extracted the insert and heat-set a proper 6mm nut in place. I scored the nut on each flat for a little more grab. Good as new, or at least, better than a ford dealer. This is exactly why I work on my own cars. You can't trust someone who doesn't care about your investment.

Edited April 29, 2023 by dgotc