NEED HELP ASAP! Engine noise issue...

[EconoBox]

My stereo is picking up a loud whine when I turn the key and while running. The car does not have to be on just with the key two clicks.

My speakers make a loud whistle that increases with the RPMs. I have checked for ground loops, I put in one of the Noise supressors on the power feed to my head unit and I have redone all of the grounds.

I am running from a Pioneer head unit into a Rockford Fosgate Amp out to Polk Momo Components Front and Rear. The RCA cables are no where neer the power cable and I have even tried grounding straight to the battery someone please help me...

[Notladstyle]

1. does the sound end when you unlug the RCAs at the headunit?
Yes?
It's the headunit - try a different unit to eliminate the wiring as a culprit.

No? (leave RCAs unplugged)
Does the sound end when you unplug the RCAs at the amp?
Yes? Its the RCAs - replaced with new set

No?
The amp is defective, your alternator is dying, the battery is dying, your ground is bad.



Are all your grounds on sanded bare metal chasis spots with no rust? If you harness in good condition(a lose pin will cause headaches)?

[EconoBox]

when I unplug the RCAs it stops. So it is the head-unit? It is a new pioneer 7800mp. I don't think it is under warranty anymore do you know anyone who can repair them? I bought it from crutchfield so can I just contactthem for a new one?

[Notladstyle]

depends on where you unplugged them from - The back of the head unit or the back of the amp????

[EconoBox]

From the back of the head unit.

[Notladstyle]

probably - could still be a ground loop however.

[The Punisher]

I took about 4 inches of wire before and stripped it all down to bare copper. I then wrapped it around both RCA's on the amp and that eliminated all the noise... Not sayin it will fix it for sure bet never hurts to try. I had 4 of the old school RF BD 1500's on 4 L7- 15's and and 2 RF Power 850X- 4 CHANNEL AMPS. WORKED FOR ME JUST TRYIN TO HELP...

[EconoBox]

The head unit didn't have this issue a week ago. So I am still thinking it could be a ground loop. Could running 2, 4 gauge power wires next to each other and past the ECU cause the problem?

[GradeA_TireFryer]

Try Regrounding The Hu, Try Also Grounding The Outside Of The Rca Cables, Check Your Battery Ground, If You Have 2 4 Guage Power Wires You Should Have Added 2 4 Gauge Ground Wires!, How Old Is Your Battery? Have You Deep Cycled Your Battery Lately - Could Have A Bad Cell - Take To Autozone And Have Them Test Your Battery For Free,

[EconoBox]

It is a ground loop somewhere I swapped headunits with an older one I had sitting around and it had the same problem.

My alternator isn't dead but it is the wrong one for the motor, could that cause the problem? I bought the car a couple months ago and whoever did the engine swap left the alternator from the single cam on with the DOHC. it pushes 30 amps less than the right alternator would.

And I have already tried every possible grounding repair before I made this thread. I have two 4 gauge wires with two 4 gauge grounds, that go to bare metal on the main part of the body. I have also tried regrounding the headunit to a million different places. I did the wires to ground the RCA cables as well and it helped a lot but it seems like a ghetto repair and it just looks bad. I know no one can see it but I know it is there.

[Notladstyle]

umm, you are overlooking the most important grounds -


battery to frame

alternator positive to battery

alternator ground to frame (yes the alternator has a ground too!)

[POST]

alternator ground to frame (yes the alternator has a ground too!)

It was the difference between 12v and 14.5v for me, plus made it 200000x more efficient. (my old ground was like 18ga wire that was COVERED in rust, oil, and ended in a pool of sludgey coolant/oil/rotting leave mix.

[EconoBox]

I'll double check those. I have redone every other ground and I have new battery terminals. Thanks.

[POST]

It was the difference between 12v and 14.5v for me, plus made it 200000x more efficient. (my old ground was like 18ga wire that was COVERED in rust, oil, and ended in a pool of sludgey coolant/oil/rotting leave mix.

Oh yeah and when dalton took it off, we noticed that the bolt wasnt even a bolt anymore, it was solidified calcium or rust or something. whatever it was it broke off and turned into powder proving that i had almost literally no ground on that bitch.... lols~!

[GradeA_TireFryer]

Try This Run A Positive And Negative Wire From The Battery, Hook The Nege To Neg - Hook The Pos To Yell And Red On Radio -= Test For Noise

[the727kid]

Was your old HU a Pioneer as well?

I bet if you go grab some 18 gauge wire and wrap them around the RCAs on the HU and secure them to screws on the HU it will go away.

[EconoBox]

I tried an old Pioneer and Clarion HU. I'm still working on the grounds I have been working every day so I'm just getting a chance to spend some time on it tonight.

[EconoBox]

I did the RCA thing and it helped a lot but the noise is still there. I also tried running power to the HU straight from the battery and the sound was still there. I'm starting to think it is something in the dash harness because the thing has been messed with by to many different people. It has an old alarm rigged up and splices for the swapped ECU. I'm starting to consider re running the 4 gauge wire for the amp, but putting it through the firewall sucks. I'm really hoping that having it go by the ECU isn't he problem. I ran it the same way in the last "econobox" which was the same car and had no problems...

[nickscivicsi69]

what is ur HU remoted to check remote and constant power to the HU and ground, also what did u remote the amp to try to use same romote for the amp as the HU and ground the amp stright to a sander spot on the chasis then only run power to the battery se if that makes the noise go away

[EconoBox]

? The remote turn on from the head unit is run to the wire for the amp. The red ACC feed is wired to harness and the Yellow batt feed goes straight to the battery, the ground goes to a sanded part of the frame under the dash. It is all right and I'm getting the noise with three different headunits. I can't find a problem anywhere. I'm really thinking I might just go to a shop and have them look at it.

[the727kid]

You did the trick I told you and it helped but not completely?

Try this, the ground wire coming from your HU to the harness, cut that and ground that directly to the car, find a solid metal place sand it down and connect it there.

[EconoBox]

Tried again still same result. I took it down to AVE today and they checked it out. One of the guys said I was getting feedback through the RCAs so we tested the amp and its bad... It's a Rockford Fosgate Punch 450.4

Its under warranty so I'm calling them Monday to get a new one.

Any more suggestions before I send it away? The AVE guys went over all my wiring grounds and lookef for anything that could cause the problem. We redid all the grounds for the amp and HU and still have the problem. I also redid all of the engine grounds, battery terminal, and redid the HU harness and soldered all the connections. Nothing has even Helped except grounding the RCAs but that just quieted the problem a little bit.

[lsrex212]

i just had a pioneer headunit replaced the other day. pioneer units have a very sensitive internal fuse. if that fuse pops you will get noise. you can try calling jersey jim towers and see what they say about fixing it. i had a service plan on mine and took it back to best buy and had it replaced. i accidentally shorted a wire when i was hooking my battery back up the other day after i added an electric fan controller and i all the sudden had noise. www.sounddomain.com is also a good place for audio technical if you cant figure stuff out . they have a thread on there seomwhere that explains the poineer internal fuse crap. next time do what has been said here in previous comments and ground the headunit directly to the chassis and not through the harness. that will probably help also. good luck.

[POST]

Did you get your problem fixed? you haven't posted back, we'd like to know the results.