Engine noise/ How much $$ to fix

[Wonderbread 5,000+ posts]

no, im not dyslexic..

my computer room is just very cold, so feeling is lost in my fingers and toes nery quickly..

also, coupled with the fact that I am a horrible typist and really dont care if you can read it or not, my typing can be difficult to undersatnd, for instance, someeimtes, i make up words... live with it...

heres teh way to check if it's alternator whine...

turn the volume all the way down...

with the engine running....

press the accelerator, does it get worse? if yes, its whine... does it get worse after you run the system off battery only (not with the engine on ) for a litttle while?

Its alternator whine...

A lot of people i ahve talked to don't particularly recommend the use of aground loop isolator, its likea band aid to a relatively easily fixed problem, albeit sometimes its a time burning problem...

 

[tim-mania 10+ year member]

mine did that too, it was because i had a garbage amp, then i picked up a b etter one, and it stopped.

 

[DiamondAudioFan 10+ year member]

Originally posted by nambo25 Here's the latest. I went back to Circuit City to drop my car off (thinking I was going to get it fixed) and spoke the assistant installation manager (he did the initial install), and he told me that the engine noise is not caused the ground, even though he never checked the ground. He said that the engine noise is caused by running aftermarket components with the factory HU. He also said that upgrading to a high end line level convertor might be able to fix the problem. I think he's full of shit. But the problem is, as he pointed out to me, on the back of the sales invoice, it says "Engine Noise Excluded" from the warranty of the installation, and this applies to all their installations. So I can't really do anything about it. So I'm just going to take this experience as a lesson learned, but now I have to find a place that will fix the engine noise at a reasonable price. I had a gut feeling Circuit City would be dicks about it. Any suggestions on where to go from here?

go back to circuit city and kick the guy in the nards.

problem solved.. and lots of stress taken off ur shoulders.

 

[nambo25 10+ year member]

The noise is definetly alternator whine, because it gets louder as I press the gas and the noise is only there when the engine is on. I took my car to a car audio dealer and he told me that because I'm running the components off the stock HU, there's always going to be engine noise present (he said something about the use RCA convertors introduces noise). He told me that all the wiring look ok. I was under the impression that even with a stock HU, a good install should never introduce engine noise. Is this true, or are there some situations where engine noise cannot be prevented?

 

[drkodin 10+ year member]

with a stock HU it is very possible that alt whine is unavoidable. try the loop isolater, see if that works.

your problem is that the converter is a backdoor way of hooking up an amp to a HU. if you replace your HU with an aftermarket one, not only will you get better sound, but it will give you RCA preouts. this will allow a direct connection to the HU rather than the backdoor way you are doing now. If you got the extra $$$, go back to that shop and talk to them. say you want to get rid of the alt whine by buying an aftermarket HU. Then also ask them to check the way Circuit City ran the wires. they should help you out as long as you buy something from them.

it is true the ground loop isolater is just a band-aid, but it should eliminate the alt whine (well, cover it up really //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif )

 

[nambo25 10+ year member]

Final update --

I have to give props to Custom Stereo in Dallas, TX. I took my car there and the installer told me that it would only take him an hour or so to fix my alternator whine, having never seen my car - labor is $40/hr. I was skepticle, considering I took it to several places that told me that it could take hours, and some places could not even find the problem, but I gave it a go. Well, it took him only 10 minutes find the problem, and he charged me only $20 for something that alot of places were saying could take hours to fix. The problem was that Circuit City installed the LLC next to a hidden fuse box in the kick panel, and they used some cheap pryamid LLC. Nick, the installer, replaced my LLC with one they happen to have laying around, and moved it away from the fuse box - problem fixed. I want to thank everyone for your input, and much props to Custom Stereo. I would not recommend Circuit City or Best Buy, even for simple installs.