Alpine PDX-4.100 making my engine noises

[plyer3 10+ year member]

oh, the front inputs were connected, so ill test that out without them. and what do you mean by jumping from the positive to remote?

what are the possibilities that it's the headunit? looks like to me it's the amp....even though i just got it few months ago

 

[nineball 10+ year member]

you have 3 power connections on your amp, +, - and remote. the remote signal (usually) comes from your hu. disconnect it from the amp. take a small piece of wire and attach one end to your + on the amp and the other end into the remote input. this takes the hu out of the picture but the amp will still turn on.

 

[cj407]

if the amp is attached to something that is vibrating yes it could be the amp having a bad solder ground inside the amp and its causing the noise....i know i have a PG amp i need to get fixed...

NEVER ATTACH AN AMP TO A SUB BOX...ALWAYS TO A SURFACE THAT DOESN'T VIBRATE.

 

[plyer3 10+ year member]

I'll try the power and remote method. My PDX is taped on top of my sub box....IDK where else to put it.

 

[cj407]

might have vibrated something loose.....that sux...

 

[plyer3 10+ year member]

might have vibrated something loose.....that sux...

lol never knew that was possible to begin with,hmm..

 

[nineball 10+ year member]

really? think about how much your sub box vibrates. amps are not meant to vibrate.

 

[plyer3 10+ year member]

****, should've left it under my seat. is it ok to have a mono amp screwed to back of the sub box though?

i may have to rewire everything...again

but, it could be my headunit as well right now. im planning to upgrade my headunit soon, so ill see how that works. i have yet to test the amp right now, but will when i get the rca adapter from a friend.

i bought the headunit used, and i think i had the noise even when the pdx was under my seat for a little while. 1-2 songs also dont play on my alpine deck, Low by Flo rida doesn't play on two of my ipods that I've tried, but they could be played on my computer and cds.

 

[nineball 10+ year member]

****, should've left it under my seat. is it ok to have a mono amp screwed to back of the sub box though?

really? think about how much your sub box vibrates. amps are not meant to vibrate.

in short, no.

 

[plyer3 10+ year member]

im running out of place to put them...will rewire everything later, but i have to test the amp first.

 

[Ferendon 10+ year member]

If all else fails, try a chassis ground. I know saying that is gonna stir up some shit, but try it. There's a reason amp kits come with 18 ft of power wire, and only 4 ft for the ground. I chassis ground every amp install I do, and have never had an engine whine issue caused by it. Granted, the biggest monoblock we sell is 1500w, so we don't do a lot in the way of huge power systems.

 

[plyer3 10+ year member]

I already tried the chasis, it was my first wiring before I switched to the neg terminal of battery. I even went as far as grounding the neg to the front battery neg and the chasis at same time lol.

Well here are the results after testing:

1. Got a 1 foot of remote wire and connected from the remote to the + of amp.

2. Unplugged all RCAs from HU to amp

3. Connected ipod to the rear rca of pdx. Turned the vol to 0 with car on, no more engine noise or whine, drove the car around the block with no engine whine or noise.

4. Did the above step with the front rca of pdx, same results.

So, it's the headunit now?

 

[nineball 10+ year member]

hu or the rca cable

 

[plyer3 10+ year member]

rcas are basically brand new Rockford fosgates from best buy

 

[nineball 10+ year member]

that doesn't mean a thing. find another set of rca cables and use them with the hu. no need to run them, just pull the hu out, connect the rca and then connect them to the amp. since you know it isn't the amp this will determine if it is the hu or the cable.

also, if you have no rca connection between the hu and the amp it doesn't matter what the volume on the hu is set to. it's not connected.