upgraded deck/amp, now engine noise....

[yotabeater 10+ year member]

i upgraded from an old pioneer double din and an alpine 4 channel amp, to a premier 860 and an mtx thunder 5400 5 channel amp this weekend. when i started my truck, i got real bad engine noise. i didn't change anything in the wiring, just switched everything over. i've heard it might be the fact that my power wire is running along with my rca's, but this is how it was before with no problems. i've had some shitty luck with my stereo in the last couple of weeks, and this is the last straw. i'm ready to say f*** stereo stuff at this point. i thought it might be a ground problem. one shop told me to run the ground wire from my deck to my amp ground, which i've never heard of. another said to run the power and rca's on separate sides of the truck. any input is appreciated. thanks.

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[Anonymous User 10+ year member]

you could try running the wires on seperate sides. or check to see if the RCAs are plugged in as much as it can in the back of the deck and on the amp. or the amp is grounded to a bare part of the chassis.

 

[yotabeater 10+ year member]

i didn't move the ground wire. it's in the same place as it was on the old amp.

 

[maylar 10+ year member]

Some amps / head units are more sensitive to ground loops than others. Alternator whine is pretty much always associated with grounds. Just 'cuz it worked before doesn't mean the grounds are perfect.

 

[zachzchw 5,000+ posts]

Search for the pioneer ground noise problem.

Common problem.

You could try grounding your rca's.

 

[yotabeater 10+ year member]

i've heard of the pioneer ground problem, i just don't know what it entails. how do i ground my rca's? i've never heard of that. i'm gonna try and ground the engine block to the frame, and get better grounds for the deck and amp, if that doesn't work, i'm going to run my power wire on the other side of the truck. if that doesn't work, i'm gonna guess it's the pioneer ground problem. how easy of a fix is this?

 

[dkguitarist 5,000+ posts]

i've heard of the pioneer ground problem, i just don't know what it entails. how do i ground my rca's? i've never heard of that. i'm gonna try and ground the engine block to the frame, and get better grounds for the deck and amp, if that doesn't work, i'm going to run my power wire on the other side of the truck. if that doesn't work, i'm gonna guess it's the pioneer ground problem. how easy of a fix is this?

also, common myth is that power wire induces noise thru the rcas. not true.

for ground the rcas, take a strand of speaker wire, wrap it around the rca metal part, then ground it to the headunit chassis (iirc).

if it is the infamous pioneer ground loop, send it to pioneer (if it's under warranty). it's internally inside the hu.

 

[yotabeater 10+ year member]

it's not under warranty. bought it on ebay. same with my mtx 5400x amp. when i unplug one rca from the amp and touch the side of the terminal with it, it goes away. but as soon as i plug it in it starts up again. also, my speakers sound funky. starting to distort and just not sound good overall after installing everything. could this be from the engine interference or a bad ground? i expected awesome sound quality from the hu and amp combo, but am really disappointed.

 

[dkguitarist 5,000+ posts]

it's not under warranty. bought it on ebay. same with my mtx 5400x amp. when i unplug one rca from the amp and touch the side of the terminal with it, it goes away. but as soon as i plug it in it starts up again. also, my speakers sound funky. starting to distort and just not sound good overall after installing everything. could this be from the engine interference or a bad ground? i expected awesome sound quality from the hu and amp combo, but am really disappointed.

try grounding the rca's..see if that helps

 

[yotabeater 10+ year member]

alright. i ran a new ground from the engine block to the chassis, as well as a new ground from the hu to the chassis, with no affect. noise is still there. tried grounding the rca's where they plug into the amp, made it a little better, but not much. i connected the grounded rca wire to where i have my amp grounded, so that might be part of the problem. i'll try getting a better ground for the amp next. i don't think it's the pioneer ground loop problem, as the previous owner of the deck used it for 5 months with no problems, unless it just pops up out of nowhere.

 

[dkguitarist 5,000+ posts]

alright. i ran a new ground from the engine block to the chassis, as well as a new ground from the hu to the chassis, with no affect. noise is still there. tried grounding the rca's where they plug into the amp, made it a little better, but not much. i connected the grounded rca wire to where i have my amp grounded, so that might be part of the problem. i'll try getting a better ground for the amp next. i don't think it's the pioneer ground loop problem, as the previous owner of the deck used it for 5 months with no problems, unless it just pops up out of nowhere.

idk if this is relevant to you or not, but i traded my p860mp deck to a guy, then he sold it to someone else. had no problems with the deck. the guy he sold it to, said he had the "ground loop" problem. turns out it was his dimmer wire. he unhooked that and no more noise. so you might wanna check your hu wiring again to make sure. also, try ground the rcas to the hu itself.

 

[yotabeater 10+ year member]

so in order to ground the rca's, i have to do it on the hu side? thought it would be ok to do it on the amp side of the rca's, but i'll try it that way. i'll also try and cut the dimmer wire. that's the orange one, right?

 

[dkguitarist 5,000+ posts]

so in order to ground the rca's, i have to do it on the hu side? thought it would be ok to do it on the amp side of the rca's, but i'll try it that way. i'll also try and cut the dimmer wire. that's the orange one, right?

yeah try ground the rca barrel to the hu chassis.

do that first.

then simply disconnect the dimmmer wire (usually orange i believe) and see what that does. some vehicles use that wire, some don't. i kno mine doesn't. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif