is my sub fried?

[JDM son!]

i have a 12" rocksford sub and it worked perfectly untill my friend decided to take my starter of my car and when he put it back on he dident connect the power supply. i started it and it click then i attached the power supply and my car started fine but my sub kept blowing fuse's. i tryed 3 different amps and still the same turn out. im not stupid i know all my wirering is correct.

i was told i might have fried the transistor or ressistors one of them i dont remeber lol but is there anyway i can fix this? or do i have to send it back to the company?
please help!
repp will be givin.

[TBSpyder]

I don't see how changing a starter would have anything to do with your sub. If you've tried different amps, it's obviously not the amp. My guess is you have a short somewhere if you're blowing fuses. Take your sub out and test it to be sure though.

[JDM son!]

yea, i dident think it had anything to do with it either, but it work perfect before it was takin out.

[iamamp3pimp]

do you have a DMM?

im sure its not the sub


99%

[JDM son!]

whats DMM?

[MCOR]

Did the friend disconnect the battery before removing the starter? If not, did he accidently short the large power cable to ground when removing it from the starter? It is essentially like tig welding but without disconnecting the electronic equipment. I had an installer a few years ago that was tig welding custom plates underneath the rear floor boards for custom sub enclosures and he never disconnected the battery. He fried a JL1000.1 amp permanently and it cost me $250 to get it repaired (cost him his job also). I've also seen people reverse the connections when jump starting a vehicle and it fries the amp also (most amps now-a-days can tolerate this however). Just my experience...

[JDM Paulk]

just smell the sub, or the box carpet near the sub.
if it smells somewhat like burnt rubber/plastic it is fried.

sometimes you cant smell anything though so this might not help

[pnrcaraudio]

I know it seems coincidental but the chances that the two are connected are so small it is ridiculous. I have seen people over the years a few times even myself with similar situations , I went to a mechanic to have something fixed and in the process my starter went out and I was pissed to begin with but said fuck it replace it and when he did it still didn't work so he got another brand new starter and then it worked fine and never had another problem with it after that. The point is it seemed real coincidental but after standing back and looking at it I know the mechanical work he was doing (Water Pump) had nothing to do with the starter it just went bad at a good time actually because I was already at the mechanic and the first new starter was just DOA

[MCOR]

I know it seems coincidental but the chances that the two are connected are so small it is ridiculous. I have seen people over the years a few times even myself with similar situations , I went to a mechanic to have something fixed and in the process my starter went out and I was pissed to begin with but said fuck it replace it and when he did it still didn't work so he got another brand new starter and then it worked fine and never had another problem with it after that. The point is it seemed real coincidental but after standing back and looking at it I know the mechanical work he was doing (Water Pump) had nothing to do with the starter it just went bad at a good time actually because I was already at the mechanic and the first new starter was just DOA

While this is many times the truth, there are many cases where it is not! Being a 12 year Master tech for Ford and shop foreman at the biggest Ford dealer in the southeast, I have seen alot. Many times, the mechanic doesn't tell you the whole story-like the fact that he may have left the ground cable off while accessing that water pump. And it took a second new starter for him to start looking back over his work-see where I am coming from? Or, when he removed the water pump and water leaked down the back of the block into the starter and fried it (not real common). It is really hard for a mechanic to admit when he was wrong and it is just easier to charge the customer for something. I have seen some of the craziest cover-ups imaginable during the mechanic days. You'd be suprised....

[Will_Evo]

I am going to go with somewhere through your power and ground leads, there is a short to your car. Check the ground for wear spots in the cable and check the power cable for the same thing but especially at the firewall where it enters the engine bay. May have just gotten a hole rubbed into it and is causing the power cable to pull to much power than the fuse can stand. I highly doubt it is your amp(s) or sub considering the problem happens before it reaches either.

Evo

[JDM son!]

thanks for all the advice the sub dosent smell like it fried. im gonna double check my wires

[Pshull727]

what it sounds like is the power wire is grounding out your friend may have cut the power wire

[pnrcaraudio]

While this is many times the truth, there are many cases where it is not! Being a 12 year Master tech for Ford and shop foreman at the biggest Ford dealer in the southeast, I have seen alot. Many times, the mechanic doesn't tell you the whole story-like the fact that he may have left the ground cable off while accessing that water pump. And it took a second new starter for him to start looking back over his work-see where I am coming from? Or, when he removed the water pump and water leaked down the back of the block into the starter and fried it (not real common). It is really hard for a mechanic to admit when he was wrong and it is just easier to charge the customer for something. I have seen some of the craziest cover-ups imaginable during the mechanic days. You'd be suprised....


You are right most Mechanics and Installers do not like to admit that they might have made a mistake but a quality one always checks his work appropriatly.

But that does not change the fact that the chances that while he was changing his Starter he fried his Sub or messed something up that is stopping his sub from playing is pretty slim.

Now the original quality of the installation has a lot to do with raising or lowering those chances.

If it was good quality work on the system then the chances of some wierd, fluke occurence damaging the system goes down but if it was shotty work to begin with then the chances go up.

It is all relative and most points have some signifigance.

I was just making a point that it is a 90% chance that it was not related and he may want to start looking else where for the current issue

Unless of course your friend should not have been doing the work to begin with, but then again it is the vehicle owners fault anyway for letting his friend work on his car instead of paying a professional.

[PussixD10]

What fuses are you blowing?

The one on the amp itself, or the power cable?

It's something downstream of the amp if you're blowing the fuse on the amp.
If you keep blowing the fuse upstream of the amp, it's likely the wire as someone else suggested.

Suspect things like the wire being pulled through the firewall without using a grommet and insulation rubbing through(If you discover corner cutting, go back to the place that installed it and bitch. Even if you're past the labor warranty, if you can demonstrate the tech cut corners, you maybe able to get them to redo it)

Whatever you do, don't jumper the fuse. That's a good way to burn your car down.

[JDM son!]

the fuses are blowing on the amp itself, not the power line. thanks for all your help rep'd!

[PussixD10]

When you said you tried 3 different amps, you meant three different amplifiers, or 3 different ampere ratings of fuses?

Assuming you meant the former...

Did you check for amp to sub connection that could be shorting?


If the amp fuse(s) are blowing, your amp is blown, or as you suspected, the sub could be shorting.

Do a "physical" on the sub. Move the cone back and forth gently. If it seems to snag on something or you hear something scraping, you've got a blown speaker.

If you get past that,
Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices (http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=92020)
Print it out and pick that up locally. For what you're doing, the $5 one is good enough. Use "200" setting in the "ohm" (omega symbol) mode with the wires attached to the two bottom holes. Cross the wires tips together and you should get a reading 0.x. Remember this value.

Now, remove the subs and connect it across the sub connection. If your subs 2 ohms, you should get 2.x. If you're getting 0.x you have a short.

These procedures will test a constantly shorted sub, but will not screen an intermittent short. If you're blowing fuses and sub-wiring is clear on multiple different amplifiers, the sub is shorting.

Once you isolate the cause, be sure you figure out what's going on so it won't happen again. For example, if you had dual coil 2 ohm speakers and you wired them in parallel, you'll have a one ohm speaker, but if you wire them in series, you'll have 4 ohm. If your subs impedance is less than the amplifier's , it can fry the amplifier over time.

1 ohm sub on 4 ohm amp = bad
4 ohm sub on 1 ohm amp = no damage, it just won't be as loud as it should be.

[JDM son!]

thanks man. i juat figured it out, i let my friend rewire my sub that same day. he crossed the wires inside the box so it was neg-pos. thanks for the help everyone.