Engine whine and ground loop fixes... take two

I'm not sure if this has been written up, but I don't feel like reading 10 pages to figure it out.

There is another way to do this other than wrapping the wires. I tried this, and it helped, but never fully solved the problem.

What I did was get 4 lengths of wire (One length per RCA channel), strip enough to wrap around the RCA once, and come back around, clamp the wire to the RCA shield with any sort of clamp (or just hold it) and solder it onto the RCA. Once this is done, repeat on all RCA channels.

Then, simply wrap your RCA's in electrical tape, so the wire is flush, and wire them all to the HU. This way is a sure-fire way to erase all engine noise from a blown pico fuse.

What you can also do is buy a female-to-male RCA "extender" and do it somewhere further down the line. However, either way doesn't really matter.

As for Ground Loop Isolators, as said before, they simply "mask" the problem. The problem being a blown micro-fuse on the inside of the unit. I'm not sure how Ground Loop Isolators work when a surge of power is sent back through the RCA's, I'd have to test it. However, to "fix" the problem, you'd have to open up your unit and solder in a new fuse. (I believe the "fuse" is a .5amp mini resistor. You can find them at Radioshack or any other electronic's place)

There are two other ways to fix the problem internally.

1: Solder a piece of metal (it could either be a small piece of sheet metal or just wire) from one side of the fuse to the other side. This acts a direct connection and will stop the engine noise (or so they said, I've yet to try it), but will go around the fuse. I.E. if another surge of power comes through your RCA's, or they're grounded, there goes your unit.

2: Create an external fuse. You do this by buying a simple inline fuse holder. Something that looks like this. However, it doesn't have to be that. That claims 10-AWG wire, which is wayy too big. I would use any inline fuse holder with 16AWG or >. Personally, I'd try to get an AGU or mini-AGU fuse holder seeing how a lot of MAXI fuses don't get to the .5 amp resistance levels. However, you do the same thing as the "jump" in the first step. Solder the wire to one side of where the pico fuse is supposed to be, then solder the wire on the other side. So, if you ever blow the fuse, you can easily replace it with out tearing the unit apart again.

I will post pictures and a more in-depth walk through if you guys want.

Just PM me.

 
i just did this and it worked......... i was getting horrible whine from my pioneer deck and it completely took it away just by wrapping a wire around all the rca inputs on the hu. It only takes a minute and is worth it if you have any noise that is bugging the piss out of you.

 
I had to join to show my appreciation for this thread. I have been installing aftermarket audio for 15+ yrs, however I have never met the demon I just conquered with your help. For the most part I've been a die hard JVC man, but only because it was my first and I stuck with the line for 15yrs (upgrading every 2.5yrs). Funny that I ditched JVC thinking it was a headunit issue when it was really my Suburban's factory amp that was the culprit.

Based on my needs, friends encouraged me to try Pioneers. I was skeptical due to the low end Pioneer items I remember being sold at flea markets as a kid, but I ended buying a DEH-P5000UB. I've been nothing but satisfied with it up until 2 wks ago after a trip to petsmart with my family and (2) labs. I'm not sure what happened, but one of the pups bumped the subs and the system grounded out. The funny thing was that none of the wiring was touched or tampered with. The amps wouldn't even power on at first. Thereafter, regardless of where I grounded my amps I had terrible humming and popping. I was horrified as I always took pride in my self installed systems with crispy clean audio from high to low. In addition to this, I was blowing fuses every 5 minutes. I was certain that it was a ground issue, but starting to lean towards the distortion. I checked all of my RCA's, replaced the power and grounds, including a ground strap kit, without any luck.

After multiple google searches with various word combos, I found this thread. I had never had an issue such as this, so of course I would of had no idea to ground the RCA inputs to the H/U chassis. I was about ready to buy a ground loop eliminator and even break down and take it to an audio shop. I'm sure they would of charged me a full install to attempt solving the problem. I'm still shocked that it worked, because the humming was extremely loud with an occasional pop and hiss. Something so simple caused me a headache for 2 wks.

So, I'm assuming there is an internal fuse within the H/U which causes this issue? Is this fix long term or should I consider returning it for factory repair as it is still within the 1yr warranty?

Sorry for the long read, but again THANKS TOO MUCH (as my 3yr old says)! I feel like I've been visited by Santa Claus........

 
Well I have been suffering with this same issue since June of this year. I only discovered this site a few days ago and read up on the fix for the Pioneer HUs. So today I had time to try the grounding of the RCA's and it worked almost perfectly.

Here are a couple pictures of my Pioneer 6000 HU with the ground wiring installed.

DSCF0116.jpg


DSCF0118.jpg


This trick cut the noise down to almost nothing. I can only hear a slight whine when the volume is turned down between 0-2 on the HU. I would say its a success!!! I have my radio back!!! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 
Hey Enellz,

I use to live in Louisville. Went to Trinity HS and UofL before moving to St. Louis in 1992. I was just there seeing my folks over Thanksgiving. I was suppose to be there this weekend for Christmas, but I had stuff at work come up so I could not make it down.

You got lucky, only driving you nuts for a few weeks. I had to go almost 6 months before finally discovering this link! Lucky bastiage!

Go Cards!

 
i need help i have a pionner deh p30001b headunit just intalled after my alpine was stolen happy with the stereo but now i get popping sounds from my subs everytime i turn my car on and off or switch functions from am/fm aux and cd.my subs also makes a slight brief rumbling when i first start my car but only momentarily, had 4 diff. shops check it out and there stumped please any and all help is greatly appreciated already bought a new amp thinking the amp was faulty switched to new and inproved rca cables to no avail thanks:confused:

 
Thank you guys so much for this thread. I had nasty alt whine and was about to get a new Alpine or something! My deck is almost 5 years old now but it still works fairly well. Add one more to the list for this quick fix. =)

 
Ill attest to this working

My 860mp deck had a NASTY rpm dependant whine, tried new rcas, relocating wires. DIdnt work. Just tried the grounding rcas to the chassis of the headunit and it worked perfect

 
Alternator whine started happening the other day when I rolled down my driver side window. There was a loud popping sound & my HU & iPod shut off. When it came back on, the whine came on with it. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif I figured that I had a grounding issue with the wiring in the door. Finally got the time to pull the panel off this morning and found that the window regulator was rubbing against the speaker wire for my seperates. I was really considering on buying a noise filter or a ground loop isolator. While conducting my search, I came across this thread and found out that I wasn't the only one that was having this problem with my HU. After reading through the entire thread, I pulled out my HU, grounded the RCA outputs and installed it with my fingers crossed. Started the car and turned on the deck, alternator whine....gone!! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

btw: I fixed the rubbing issue w/ the window regulator as well.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/thumbsupwink.gif.129404938effda6ad9cca39e7f4b58a3.gif

I just wanted to thank you for helping me solve this issue before I started pulling hairs. Your expertise is greatly appreciated.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/bowdown.gif.b85b23b82970bd22fb6b549c3392f016.gif

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/yourock.gif.93d527d504392657a77fa577298070a1.gif

 
I joined this forum just to say thank you for this thread.

I had an extremely annoying alternator whine coming from my 6x9s, tried everything to fix it, ripped my whole car apart on about 4 separate occasions. I managed to reduce it a little, but every time a song changed/went quite, there it was pestering me from the back of my car. Bought a ground loop isolator as a last resort which came in the post this morning, and even that didn't solve it. I had literally run out of ideas so i just came to the conclusion that i woudl have to live with it, as annoying as it was. Did a google search for about the 20th time on the subject and came across this page which i hadn't seen before, did that thing with grounding the RCAs on the head unit and success! Absolutely no noise whatsoever any more. I am over the moon. I owe you a pint mate. Thank you!

 
Sorry if I'm being a blind noob but...the F700 has RCAs?

I just had mine installed and it has a terrible alternator whine... It was put in a stock 2003 Tahoe...stock speakers, no external amps or anything. I have the Scosche wiring harness with chime and the iPod cable installed with it - that's all.

I've been searching everywhere for the solution to this whining and I've seen a lot of this 'wrapping wire around the RCAs and grounding them' solution posted, but I assumed I can't go the easy route with that solution because mine has no RCA outs to wrap wire around...does it?

I mean...there is the picture shown in post #1 of this topic, which I have seen many similar pictures...and then here is my unit, the F700

http://limitlessmotorsports.com/blog/wp-content/gallery/Avic-F700BT/AVIC-F700BT-2.JPG

What do I do?

I'm so confused :-(

 
If you only have the stock speakers hooked up to the internal amp, you should check to see where your head unit is grounded. Sounds to me like you've got a grounding issue.

 
I tried grounding my RCAs today and it introduced a ton more noise. Do I need to start looking at the grounds for everything else.

My Setup is as follows.

Kenwood DDX 8019

PG XS2300 bridged running 1 12" Boston Pro sub

Coustic 160u running rear fill (Rainbow coaxials)

MTX rt2400 running a set of PG 6.5s

i was getting the noise and and lost one channel of the front stage on a bridged PPI PC450. I replaced the RCAs and the AMP and I still have the noise and one channel has gone in and out. Do you think I could be getting some strangness from the Kenwood deck?

 
Great info on this thread!

I have the f90bt which I got from an authorized dealer. I have tried everything to get rid of the whine, Im gonna have to say its that internal fuse causing the problem. Since I am still under warranty should I just notify pioneer about the whine or what?

Alot of you guys just grounded the RCAs but im not sure if any of you actually have a warranty. Has anyone had this repaired under warranty from pioneer? How did you explain them your problem after telling them you tried everything else?

I will probably try the RCA grounding but I am still under my 2 year warranty so I hope they can fix it.

 
Activity
No one is currently typing a reply...

About this thread

jmanpc

5,000+ posts
CA.com Nostalgist.
Thread starter
jmanpc
Joined
Location
Jacksonville, Fl
Start date
Participants
Who Replied
Replies
306
Views
427,106
Last reply date
Last reply from
Matt8896
561786595_18427607485102160_7010259965928918509_n.jpg

just call me KeV

    Oct 9, 2025
  • 0
  • 0
561583216_18427455586102160_8141545757991593433_n.jpg

just call me KeV

    Oct 9, 2025
  • 0
  • 0

New threads

Top