Engine whine and ground loop fixes... take two

[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!!

 

[BNolan12 10+ year member]

hey guys can someone answer a quick question..i need to ground my rca's on my pioneer what type or wire to use? thanks

 

[Joseph K 10+ year member]

hey guys can someone answer a quick question..i need to ground my rca's on my pioneer what type or wire to use? thanks

Just use like some 12 gauge speaker wire or something. Cut the jacket off of a long piece of it and just wrap it around all the uca's, and ground it to the chassis using one of the screws on the back. Then plug your RCA's back in and they will hold the wire all in place a little better. Worked perfectly on mine.

 

[BNolan12 10+ year member]

thanks I plan on doing that this weekend. Does it matter is the wire is positive or negative wire??

 

[Josh_101 10+ year member]

I need to try that out, ground the RCA's to the the stereo case... I'm on my second Pioneer due to this ground loop problem and at the same time, my sub amp has died for the second time because of this. I get a lot of popping noise when the doors are opened and anything that's electronic in the truck, it puts through the speakers. I may as well buy a new amp because I don't wanna wait several weeks for the RMA service to fix it a second time.

 

[Josh_101 10+ year member]

YES!! It worked! Now I just need a new amp...