Fired it up and.................ENGINE NOISE

[ccajun4real 10+ year member]

I have spent almost a month sawing, carpeting, wiring, more wiring etc LOL Today I finally got everything connected turn the key over and ****//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/eek.gif.771b7a90cf45cabdc554ff1121c21c4a.gif Serious engine noise! It seems to be an issue with the RCA connector sending engine noise but I used the same RCA to connect my sub amp when I was only using one amp for a 10" MB Q sub. There was no noise then but I did re-route the RCA behind the head unit to get some more length out of it.

Could the issue be the routing behind the head unit? I am also having issues with one of the amps. When I turn on power I can hear it reset and it gave a slight pop. I turned the power off immediately. I have tested the power and ground on all amps and they are all getting good batt power and ground through the distribution blocks. I found one of the + wires loose to the crossover and it might have been contacting the - terminal of the crossover. Would this cause the amp to act like that?

This is the first stereo project of this magnitude that I have attempted and although I am pretty handy in general I am by no means an expert with this stuff.

I am running the power, ground and remote all through 1 in 4 out distribution blocks and am daisy chaining two amps per RCA interconnect. Below is a graphic of what I have.

Thanks for any help.

Click to read more...

 

[ccajun4real 10+ year member]

pwnt

What does that mean?//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/blackeye.gif.66a1670f5aaf7f406e783a63e3387dc5.gif Forgive me I am not up on some of the shorthand terms. Thanks

Cajun

 

[ccajun4real 10+ year member]

check the grounds on the hu. good grounding on those bishes helps.

The main ground for the HU? I have also heard of grounding the RCA, how do I go about doing that should the HU ground not be an issue? Thanks

 

[Chevyaudio 5,000+ posts]

Check all of your grounds...The turn on "pop" screams bad ground on the amp. Make sure all of them are secured tightly, and with all of those amps I assume that you used a ground distrobution block, so check where that ground is connected to either the frame (bare metal, tight connection) or a battery (tight connection). Also what HU do you have, the older model pioneers are known for needing to have their RCA's regrounded to the chassis of the deck.

 

[ccajun4real 10+ year member]

Check all of your grounds...The turn on "pop" screams bad ground on the amp. Make sure all of them are secured tightly, and with all of those amps I assume that you used a ground distrobution block, so check where that ground is connected to either the frame (bare metal, tight connection) or a battery (tight connection). Also what HU do you have, the older model pioneers are known for needing to have their RCA's regrounded to the chassis of the deck.

I have a Kenwood HU, not sure of the model #, will have to check that out. I tested each of the ground/power terminals on the amps and all gave a strong red light for power and green for ground. I am using a 1 to 4 distro block for ground, power and the remote turn on power. Thanks for the help.

Cajun

 

[Chevyaudio 5,000+ posts]

Try un-pluging the RCAs from the amp. If the noise persists you can rule out the RCA's just troubleshoot. Thats the best way to find and eliminate a noise problem.

 

[ccajun4real 10+ year member]

Try un-pluging the RCAs from the amp. If the noise persists you can rule out the RCA's just troubleshoot. Thats the best way to find and eliminate a noise problem.

Roger that, did unplug them and it stopped. I also left the main RCA plugged in and disconnected the interconnecting RCA plugs to see if that might be an issue. I believe the issue to be the main RCA plugs coming from the HU but just cant understand why I didnt get engine noise when I was using it with only one amp. It has to be where it is routed in the dash. I understand what you are saying about troubleshooting. I guess I am just frustrated after so much work, but that is the name of the game with car audio.

Do you have any thoughts on why the MTX 202 might have issues? As I said I checked the power and ground and got lights on both. Is it possible that even though it is a ground it is not a good enough ground? I know that probably sounds dumb but I have the ground connected to bolt in the floor of the trunk. Maybe I need to run it from the - on the battery? Then again the other amps are working.

I guess I will just have to take my time and go through all the possibilities. By asking I can get all the suggestions so that I can go down the list of things that might be causing these two problems.

Thank for your help.

 

[ccajun4real 10+ year member]

Oh and the HU is a Kenwood 528, last years model but got it new about a four months ago from Best Buy. Someone mentioned that the HU may not have a good ground. Would it still operate without a good ground?

 

[bamaboy 5,000+ posts]

Oh and the HU is a Kenwood 528, last years model but got it new about a four months ago from Best Buy. Someone mentioned that the HU may not have a good ground. Would it still operate without a good ground?

yes

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

It is most likely a problem with the HU ground. The HU seeks a lower resistance ground path than it has through its ground wire and that path is the RCA. You probably have a better ground on your amps now than you did before and you don't normally hear the alt whine with just a sub amp because the crossover filters it out.

 

[Bumpin-Thumper 10+ year member]

Ground the HU make sure the fuses are good and not like half melted, also try ground loop boxes to connect between your rcas?? MAybe your HU could have blwon a noise filter or be shot, had an xplod with same problems and though it was the amps but just replaced the hu and it worked perfeclty. Hope this helps.

 

[ultimate157 5,000+ posts]

If you unplug your RCAs and the noise goes away, make sure the HU ground is good.

If that doesnt fix it, do this:

http://www.caraudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=147694