Engine whine and ground loop fixes... take two

[M4ST3R_OWNER]

i have pioneer 4900. i tried everything. moved rca on opisite side of power wire. moved amp 20 times. moved ground wire to amp to chas under car. tried bolting ground wire to frame and running to headunit.

nothing worked. the sound just drove me crazy. when your idle its at its loudest. i just couldnt take it anymore. i found this site, and i was like ill give it a try. and it works!!! omg thanks so much. i couldnt beleave pioneer havent fixed this. this will be my last pioneer...sad, i really like the radio. wish they would fix it, or do recalls and fix it for free. but thanks so much.

heres what i did, hope it helps someone see.

 

[AlterEgo99 5,000+ posts]

Wow, some big ass pics there! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/eek.gif.771b7a90cf45cabdc554ff1121c21c4a.gif

 

[M4ST3R_OWNER]

yea i took them with my iphone hahah. i didnt know they were so big.

http://www.youtube.com/m4st3rowner

 

[xguntherc 10+ year member]

Very Informational thread.. I currently just barely installed a 4 channel amp running all 4 doors, and newly Just started having this whine problem.

Today while idle it was blaring, and hitting gas even when in park it gets louder, but turning volume up even when playing nothing doesnt increase it.

I tried turning off my HU and the whine stopped. This makes me think its either the 4 channel amps ground, the HU needs a better whine (but never noticed it before and its the same HU from when I only amped the sub) or its the RCA's bit I got nice ones. Any suggestions? I think i'll try tapping into and adding a better ground for the HU, and rechecking the amps ground

 

[Loodachris]

New to the forums and I too am having a buzzing sound after I installed my Alpine amp. I have moved grounds and still no change. I bought a couple ground loop isolators and it did cut the buzzing sound in half but now I lost bass in that channel. I am not running a sub so the outcome of this *****. I have a JVC KW-AVX810 head unit and the new amp is an Alpine MRP-F300 any ideas //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif

 

[AlterEgo99 5,000+ posts]

Very Informational thread.. I currently just barely installed a 4 channel amp running all 4 doors, and newly Just started having this whine problem.
Today while idle it was blaring, and hitting gas even when in park it gets louder, but turning volume up even when playing nothing doesnt increase it.

I tried turning off my HU and the whine stopped. This makes me think its either the 4 channel amps ground, the HU needs a better whine (but never noticed it before and its the same HU from when I only amped the sub) or its the RCA's bit I got nice ones. Any suggestions? I think i'll try tapping into and adding a better ground for the HU, and rechecking the amps ground

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/search2.gif.b407e3685eef133dbce7cac8ad3982c7.gif//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

There are actually some very good links out on the net that if you follow step by step you can isolate where the issue is coming from. Otherwise, it can be a rather frustrating trial and error hunt.

 

[amartin_72]

dont unplug rcas from amps when they are playing or dont reconnect them when there playing

I let my inside (positive) pin from the rca touch the ground part of the rca input on my eq and now its whining probably blew a ground fuse somewhere

 

[Blue_C1500 10+ year member]

This thread has convinced me pioneer *****... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

Agreed, if you notice the first post in this thread is from 2006 and we are a week away from 2010 and they still have the same problem. I wonder why there's 3 threads or more a week about RD having a batch of bad amps but this has been going on for 4 years and noone is biitching about this.

 

[SYLrules 10+ year member]

About a year ago, I bought a pioneer h/u and decided to not ground the RCAs, and until a few days ago, everything was fine. somehow, i got some power surge or something that fried my RCA cables. when it first happened, there was no sound so I figured some wire came loose. i get out and check everything and no wires were crossed and everything was still plugged in. i crank up my car again and im getting sound, but theres some incredible noise through the subs and door spkrs. i looked at the ends of the RCAs as the ones going to my sub amp are transparent and they look really ****ed up.

i wonder if this RCA grounding trick would have prevented my cables from getting fried. guess once i replace them and do the ground, ill find out. i dont think my h/u is ****ed but i wish it were so i could get a new one from the warranty and sell it. i need something that doesn't have a seizure while trying to play CDs with microscopic scratches.

 

[SYLrules 10+ year member]

got my new RCAs in today. first i plugged em in without doing the grounding trick. still the same insane noise as with the other RCAs. did the grounding trick and tried it again. ZERO noise! woohoo! maybe my other RCAs werent shot but oh well, ive got better ones in there now.

 

[quins90lac 10+ year member]

Ive had 2 pioneer head units a deh-1600 & a deh-1900mp and have never had an rca issue .(knock on wood)

 

[hatedonmostly 5,000+ posts]

I used to get static through my speakers that would get louder as I turned the volume up. Now, after installing a new HU, the static is as loud as was when the old deck was turned all the way up, all the time. It's not noticeable when any music is playing but it's still annoying.

Is this what the thread talks about? I don't notice any changes with different RPMs, whining sounds or turn on and off thumps. Perhaps just shitty RCAs?

 

[408Killa]

Hello all. Sorry for the bump.

I had this same problem with my newly installed (Non PIONEER/PANASONIC H/U) system. (1000w Pyramid amplifier, 2 12" Pioneers, AIWA CDC-Z127) The high whining noise got very annoying! So today I decided to rip everything apart and rewire some stuff. I noticed the guy who installed my system wired the RCA and power cables both on the same side (passenger side). After rerouting both cables separately (One on each side) and grounding the RCA shields to the stereo chasis like the first couple posts show it fixed everything. No more whining noise, no more hissing/popping. Only thing I can see wrong now is that it isn't loud enough. It should be rattling my mirrors a lot more then it is. I have to turn my deck all the way to about 68 before it starts to hit really hard and the stereo only goes up to 80. My roomates starts hitting at 5. Whats up with that? lol Gonna slap in a new deck soon anyway. Cheers!

 

[DJSEVEN 10+ year member]

Wow, I was thinking it had to be my head unit...turns out it could be my Pioneer. I changed Rca's, fixed my ground and didnt fix anything.

I then ran an RCA from my friends sytem to my car and no Loud HUM out of my amp...Thats got to be it. I have ran Pioneer all my life and never had an issue till now...

thanks for that wire ground trick...I will try it!

 

[DJSEVEN 10+ year member]

Tried above and fixed my issue...No more crazy loud roaring noise!

thank you to whoever figured this one out!!!

 

[cnwahlheim 10+ year member]

Hi,

I recently had an audio system installed in my car by a shop who claims to be the best in the area. They truly do unique custom work, but in the case of my install, I was left disappointed. I have a 1997 Lexus LS 400 and had a HU (Alpine IDA-X305), Amp (Arc Mini 125.4), 6.5" Components (Hertz High Energy), and Sub (Hertz Energy 12") installed. The sound quality is pretty good; however, I have alternator whine coming through the passenger side tweeter. The whine persists even when the source unit is powered-down. The amp was mounted under the passenger seat and from I was told, the power and speaker wires were run together to the amp. They claim the signal wire was not run with the power wire, but I am not sure where they would have routed it. Anyway, the engine noise drives me insane. When I took my vehicle back to the shop they first told me it was the engine itself and that the sound was coming through my vents, not through the speakers (they were wrong). They proceeded to tell me that my vehicle was just old and it had "characteristics"..wtf?! Yeah, it's not brand new, but it's a quality vehicle, so I was a little put off by that comment. On my next visit, I demonstrated that the whine was coming through the passenger side tweeter and they said they couldn't do anything to fix it. They implicated my plug wires as the source of the problem. I am planning to replace the plug wires in the next month to see if that solves the problem. My question, though, is, Has anyone else has had a similar problem that was solved by replacing the plug wires? Further, does anyone have an opinion about how I should get this problem resolved by the installer if the plug wires do not fix it? I supposedly have a three year warranty on the workmanship (which is why I paid a premium for the labor expenses), but I worry that I will keep getting the run-around on this issue. Any advice or comments would be appreciated.

 

[Blue_C1500 10+ year member]

Hi,
I recently had an audio system installed in my car by a shop who claims to be the best in the area. They truly do unique custom work, but in the case of my install, I was left disappointed. I have a 1997 Lexus LS 400 and had a HU (Alpine IDA-X305), Amp (Arc Mini 125.4), 6.5" Components (Hertz High Energy), and Sub (Hertz Energy 12") installed. The sound quality is pretty good; however, I have alternator whine coming through the passenger side tweeter. The whine persists even when the source unit is powered-down. The amp was mounted under the passenger seat and from I was told, the power and speaker wires were run together to the amp. They claim the signal wire was not run with the power wire, but I am not sure where they would have routed it. Anyway, the engine noise drives me insane. When I took my vehicle back to the shop they first told me it was the engine itself and that the sound was coming through my vents, not through the speakers (they were wrong). They proceeded to tell me that my vehicle was just old and it had "characteristics"..wtf?! Yeah, it's not brand new, but it's a quality vehicle, so I was a little put off by that comment. On my next visit, I demonstrated that the whine was coming through the passenger side tweeter and they said they couldn't do anything to fix it. They implicated my plug wires as the source of the problem. I am planning to replace the plug wires in the next month to see if that solves the problem. My question, though, is, Has anyone else has had a similar problem that was solved by replacing the plug wires? Further, does anyone have an opinion about how I should get this problem resolved by the installer if the plug wires do not fix it? I supposedly have a three year warranty on the workmanship (which is why I paid a premium for the labor expenses), but I worry that I will keep getting the run-around on this issue. Any advice or comments would be appreciated.

I had that problem in my old Cutlass. It turned out to be one of the wires between the tweeter and the crossover had rubbed through on a sharp piece of metal and was shorting to ground. As far as spark plug wires I kinda doubt it. Everytime I have ever heard a noise from the SPWs it was always a ticking sound and didn't sound anything like an alt whine.

 

[duro78 10+ year member]

this sticky is beyond helpful I pulled out my avic d3 to do some rewiring b4 i knew it I was getting a ridiculous amount of noise and my controls werent working properly and no matter what i did nothing worked. I almost ripped out my rca's thinking they went bad even but an isolator that did nothing. Saw this sticky, apparently i blew the on board fuse grounded the rca' worked worked like a charm. thumbs up

 

[Joseph K 10+ year member]

Definitely need to do that wire trick to my pioneer... my 880 didn't whine at all (grounded it directly to the firewall). My new one is not as nice as the 880 though (but it has ipod hookup), and it whines like hell even grounded directly to the firewall.

 

[Joseph K 10+ year member]

Just did this! Worked GREAT! No more whining whatsoever!!