Battery dead and Engine noise AGAIN...

[plyer3 10+ year member]

Second time it has happened. Found out it's the 4-channel MTX thunder amp. The engine noise is coming from the 3 speakers, I think the front left speaker doesn't have the noise is because I put the stock wires with the amp wires. May put the rest of stock wires back to the other 3 speakers to see if the engine noise would go away.

My stereo stopped working too, even when the car and amp are on. The engine noise can be heard from the speakers while the stereo is off and car is on.....

I don't think it's the ground wire since I wired the ground to the same ground that my orion mono amp's ground is grounded to.

Any other problems? I checked the wiring in the stereo and that doesn't seem to be the problem. Oh and the 4-channel amp was installed by a friend and I while the orion was installed by local car audio. The engine noise goes away when I plug the power out from the MTX 4-channel but my stereo still doesn't turn on after that.

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[IDSkoT 5,000+ posts]

Which head unit do you have?

If you have a Pioneer, you blew your Pico Fuse. There's many ways to fix this. Search "Ground Loop Fix". The best way I've found is to wrap wire around your RCA's, solder them on, then ground them to your HU.

As for your battery, make sure there's enough water in it (if it's wet cell), and also make sure your amps are turning off. You could just have a bad battery.

 

[plyer3 10+ year member]

some vr3 stereo, getting new one soon.

the stereo was able to come back after life the first time it has happened. came back after unplugging and plugging the wires back in the deck.

 

[CadillacMatt 10+ year member]

My stereo stopped working too, even when the car and amp are on. The engine noise can be heard from the speakers while the stereo is off and car is on.....

Check the back of your deck and verify that it's A) Getting power, and B) grounded. If these two check out then you might be looking at a faulty deck.

I checked the wiring in the stereo and that doesn't seem to be the problem. Oh and the 4-channel amp was installed by a friend and I while the orion was installed by local car audio. The engine noise goes away when I plug the power out from the MTX 4-channel but my stereo still doesn't turn on after that.

How are your RCAs run? Make sure they stay a good distance away from power wires, and avoid running them parallel to power wires if at all possible. Also, shielded RCAs may help with this.

 

[plyer3 10+ year member]

the 4-channel is run on a set of 2-channel rcas and the power is running from distro block. i have 0 gauge from battery to distro block in the trunk.

im going to end up doing the same thing for the ground by getting another distro block.

 

[jrwalte 10+ year member]

Have you tried connecting the RCAs going to the 4-channel MTX to the sub amp to verify it is not the HU/RCA causing the nosie but the amp. I think it's the amp anyway because you said you'll get the noise even with the HU off. Which leads us to why are your amps on when the HU is off? How do you have the remote turn on wire connected to your amps? Exactly what source is it coming from?

 

[plyer3 10+ year member]

The amp is on when the car turns on, but the stereo won't turn on. The remote is split into 2, one for 4-channel and one for orion mono.

When I plug the power out from the 4-channel, the engine noise stops, but when I plug it back in, I start to hear it again from the speakers. The noise can be heard even if the stereo is off and the 4-channel turned on.

 

[plyer3 10+ year member]

And whenever there's the noise, my battery would die out and the car won't be able to start.

Edit: the headunit's lights come on when i turn the headlights on.

 

[jrwalte 10+ year member]

First problem is it doesn't look like you have the HU wired correctly nor the remote wire. How was all of this installed? Shop, yourself, friends? The ACC 'turn on' wire for the HU sounds like it is spliced into your headlights, hence the HU turns on when you turn the lights on. Your remote wire appears to be connected to a constant source instead of the remote wire from the HU so the amp never turns off and drains your battery if left connected.

 

[plyer3 10+ year member]

The remote wire is connected to the wire of my deck that says "Failure to connect this wire to the ignition wire will drain the battery" or something like that. Says Do Not Ground as well.

The remote wire is also spliced into two.

 

[plyer3 10+ year member]

Just did a test drive, the engine noise is not as loud as before. I noticed that whenever I turn the volume above 27(39 max), music would stop. I have to turn it down or go to next song in order for it to play again. Nothing's wrong, just the sound stops but HU is still on and everything. Ok, I think the remote wire was connected to the wrong wire. That solves the **** battery problem.

Now the engine noise, it comes out from the front right, both rear speakers. The front left has stock speaker wires along with amp speaker wires together, does that make any difference? Ground wire is grounded under the backseat bolt.

 

[plyer3 10+ year member]

Problem again, there doesn't seem to be a wire on the deck or wiring harness where I can wire the remote wire to. Currently the remote is wired to the Power Antenna of the deck, but that those wires are not wired to the wiring harness of the car.

Does anybody also have answers to why the music stops when the volume is turned all the way up high? Sometimes all my sounds go crazy(distort sound) all over the car and only way to fix this is by selecting the next sound. The stopping music can be fixed by turning down the volume, but when it goes to 27+ it stops again even though stereo is still on. Sounds like a stereo problem now?

 

[Evans1109]

Problem again, there doesn't seem to be a wire on the deck or wiring harness where I can wire the remote wire to. Currently the remote is wired to the Power Antenna of the deck, but that those wires are not wired to the wiring harness of the car.
Does anybody also have answers to why the music stops when the volume is turned all the way up high? Sometimes all my sounds go crazy(distort sound) all over the car and only way to fix this is by selecting the next sound. The stopping music can be fixed by turning down the volume, but when it goes to 27+ it stops again even though stereo is still on. Sounds like a stereo problem now?

Remote turn on is typically blue/white.

To fix the engine noise tap a wire onto your radio ground and run it to your 4 channel amp and connect it to your amp ground.

When I tune systems especially with 4 ch amps I usually set a peak level on the radio and then adjust the gains on the 4 ch amp to the peak level that I would like. For example if the radio peaks at 30 I would tune it max volume to 23-24. In the past I have seen improperly tuned systems clip at higher levels. Check your tune and your radio ground and let me know. Also what is the rca voltage from your radio?

 

[plyer3 10+ year member]

There aren't any blue/white wires, but I'll check it out. I wired to my headunit's yellowish or orange color wire which in the manual says amplifier turn on or antenna remote. However, I notice that the car is experiencing start up problem again and it's still the battery most likely.

I can fix the engine noise when I separate the RCAs from the power wire next week. Is it normal to have engine noise whenever the stereo is on, but not while the stereo is off with the car on?

As for the voltage, I'll have to get my friend to check on that, but both my gains on the 4-channel amp are turned to max.

 

[Evans1109]

There aren't any blue/white wires, but I'll check it out. I wired to my headunit's yellowish or orange color wire which in the manual says amplifier turn on or antenna remote. However, I notice that the car is experiencing start up problem again and it's still the battery most likely.
I can fix the engine noise when I separate the RCAs from the power wire next week. Is it normal to have engine noise whenever the stereo is on, but not while the stereo is off with the car on?

As for the voltage, I'll have to get my friend to check on that, but both my gains on the 4-channel amp are turned to max.

With 4 ch you can easily pick up engine noise that is why it is necessary to run a ground loop wire.

Max:wow: retune your system bro.

What is the brand of radio?