I have a 99 GLE with factory sound system and a trailer hitch and wire kit. Last night I was hooking up the trailer and left the radio on while I worked on it. When I closed the trunk on the wire group the speakers quit. After a quick check I found the "Bose speaker" 15amp fuse was blown. I change it and it blew instantly.
The trailer has some frayed wires and the right side brake light doesn't.
A casual observer would think that there is a link between the trailer wiring group and the speaker. I don't think so. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Can anyone suggest, after I check the harness wiring, where to look for wire chafing that wouls short out the speakers?

Thanks to anyone and everyone.

-Charley

 

Did the wires that got closed on by the trunk, were they the ones that got frayed?

 

No, the frayed wires are on the trailer. The trailer was plugged in to the harness in the trunk. It wasn't until I closed the trunk that the system blew.
As a first attempt, I'm going to get a box of fuses and, now that the trailer is disconnected and parked at home, swap in a new fuse. Hopefully that will tell me that everything inside the car is fine and the trailer's wiring is the problem. I think that's pretty unlikely too though.
Does the wiring for the speaker system go through the left rear quarter of the car? That would be really strange.
-Charley

 

i dont know i would check the wires where the trunk closes on them. If the problem occured when you closed the trunk then it has to be directly related.

 

It sounds like one of the amp power lines is gounding out. Open the harness and find the damaged wire and tape it up.

 

Are the amp power wires in the same bundle as the brake light wires?

 

I finally got to the bottom of the problem. Turned out that there are two different things that just happened to come together at the same time. My left rear bose speaker amp is blown and just happened to die as I shut the trunk. So now I need a replacement speaker/amp for a 4th gen max.

Will any other years fit?

Thanks for all the support.