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Hey guys I have been trying to track down why I always hear popping and a low rumble from my subs when no music is playing and the volume is all the way down, its driving me MAD, the power and RCA's are on opposites sides of the car, RCA's are new. The only thing I could think it could be is the ground I made.
That's is it for that question now for the second I have had a hard time keeping my subs where they are pictured most of the time they are right up at front of the trunk closest to the bumper, and the problem with that is I don't have a trunk when they are there so I need some tips to help keep my subs in place while keeping a clean look. Thanks again guy!
I have my ground sandwiched between my trunk latch hoop and the body of the car with sanded clean metal on both sides for good contact, I have had no problems with it. By the looks of your ground, I wouldn't think that would be a bad spot either, but electricity is funny sometimes. have you tried running without the capacitor to see if that makes a difference? If all else fails, you might try to make a new ground for your head unit.
As for the speaker box moving around, I had the same issue with my box for my 15" Alpine type "R" every time I would get on it or turn a little to fast. I got tired of it and picked up some metal L brackets for wood shelving and screwed them into the side of my box using wood screws and then into the support behind the back seat (boxed support, screws are not sticking through) using self tapping metal screws. The box is solid as a rock now no matter how I drive
Ryan 2003 Bonneville SSEi - The Black Mirror SOLD! 2002 Bonneville SE - The MuttComplete 2004 SLE interior, drivetrain, and body harness swap, ECC swap, HUD swap, black GXP wheels, GXP headlights and tinted tails - SOLD 2003 BMW 540i M Sport, 2001 BMW X5 4.4i, 2010 GMC Acadia, 2017 Grand Design Imagine 3150BH 1982 Cutlass Supreme - The fun one
MattStrike wrote:It was the worst week of my life! *pause, drinks beer... smiles* But I'm better now!
I have yet to try it with out the cap but I have a feeling its going to be the same deal, Now I have never though about a new ground for my head unit I know I cheaped out and just taped into the factory black ground wire in the stock wire bundle when installing my headunit trying to keep things simple. hmm my only problem with screwing the box down like that is I can get to my amp to play with the settings, this could be a tough one.
Question #1: Not as easy to solve. What are your two ground wires? One is the cap, but what is the other one for?
Try disconnecting your RCA inputs to the amp. Does it still make noise? If no, then your head unit or RCA wires are the source of the problem. If yes, then remove your cap from the system and see what happens.
If you can try these things and report back, we can continue troubleshooting.
~Adam
'99 SSEi
'02 Volvo S60 AWD 2.4T
'02 Jeep Liberty Sport
'89 Chaparral 187XL w/ 4.3L I/O Mercruiser
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*dang* Velcro I never really though of that hot *dang*!!! and yes the noise stops when the RCA's are unhooked, *dang* this means its the head unit ground... also the second ground is not hooked up into anything its just chilling back there with black tape over the exposed end.
Last edited by rogers9c1 on Tue Oct 13, 2009 6:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I'd find a nice piece of metal on the firewall or floor to ground the HU to. That should probably fix your issue.
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I had the same two issues with my 3 10s in my bonneville. I found out that when the box was sliding all around in the trunk it was putting undue stress on the RCAs. With everything hooked up and the stereo on, try gently wiggling the RCA conections on the amp, if it makes a popping sound then youv've found the problem, at least that's what mine was. I had to disassemble my amp and resolder the RCA connector on the cicuit board. BUT..... that's my luck, hopefully yours is better than mine.
Last edited by dpcookson on Tue Oct 13, 2009 8:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
yep... what dpcookson said is a good possibility. I actually had the same thing happen and had to re-solder the RCA connectors on my amp circuit board too. Definitely give your RCA cables a wiggle where they plug into the amp and listen for popping. If that doesn't expose the problem, then try this.
Unplug one RCA at a time and see if the noise goes away when either one of the RCA's are disconnected. If the noise goes away with one RCA unplugged and one plugged in, then take the RCA that is plugged in and switch it to the other input. Does the noise come back? If yes, then the problem is probably your amp, if not it's probably your RCA.
There is still the possibility that your problem is at the HU, but lets focus on the "easy-to-test" stuff for right now.
~Adam
'99 SSEi
'02 Volvo S60 AWD 2.4T
'02 Jeep Liberty Sport
'89 Chaparral 187XL w/ 4.3L I/O Mercruiser
'00 Cannondale Jekyll 900SX
Follow me on twitter: adumb
OK......after a closer look at your pic of the amp and one at JLs website, I believe you have inadvertently hooked up your RCAs to the output side of the amp! Try moving them over to the righthand side where it says Amplifier Input Section.
dpcookson wrote:OK......after a closer look at your pic of the amp and one at JLs website, I believe you have inadvertently hooked up your RCAs to the output side of the amp! Try moving them over to the righthand side where it says Amplifier Input Section.
Thats a good eye but in truth I did that only for the photo, I cant make the box lean forward like that to take the pic if they were hooked up to input RCA's, so I had them hooked up to the output side just so when I took the picture it would not show the RCA's just hanging around.
How did I go about figuring out it's the head unit ground? I did what you said with the RCA'S and kinda did some of my own thinking, the only common ground between the noise is the deck. Reason being is I have had this deck in my last lesabre with a diff set of RCA'S and sub and amp and I had the same pop and engine whine threw the speakers and I used the same factory harness ground wire, to me I think I have found the problem now a question is how should and where should I make a NEW ground for the head unit guys? Thanks alot for the reply's!
Just find any good solid piece of metal under the dash that has good continuity to ground and use that. Just remember though that this is not a 100% guaranteed fix, but is something I would try
Ryan 2003 Bonneville SSEi - The Black Mirror SOLD! 2002 Bonneville SE - The MuttComplete 2004 SLE interior, drivetrain, and body harness swap, ECC swap, HUD swap, black GXP wheels, GXP headlights and tinted tails - SOLD 2003 BMW 540i M Sport, 2001 BMW X5 4.4i, 2010 GMC Acadia, 2017 Grand Design Imagine 3150BH 1982 Cutlass Supreme - The fun one
MattStrike wrote:It was the worst week of my life! *pause, drinks beer... smiles* But I'm better now!
YUP...crash93ssei is correct. You may also want to upgade your cars body ground if you haven't done so already. Simply run a heavy ground wire from your battery to a clean spot on the metal body (i.e. firewall), most factory grounds aren't sufficient enough for the extra load of high power systems.
I wouldn't rule out the RCAs just yet though. If they weren't long enough for their photo op, then they most likely aren't long enough to allow your box to slide to the back of the car without pulling on them. It's a possibility they may have been damaged internally.
Also, is that the 12 volt remote wire you have running along side the RCAs?
That would have been good info to include with the original post. We could have skipped everything we've already gone through.
Anyway, do what crash said. Any piece of metal under the dash will do fine, or if you're really concerned, you can run a wire straight to the negative on the battery. I don't think it'll fix your problem, but it's worth a try.
~Adam
'99 SSEi
'02 Volvo S60 AWD 2.4T
'02 Jeep Liberty Sport
'89 Chaparral 187XL w/ 4.3L I/O Mercruiser
'00 Cannondale Jekyll 900SX
Follow me on twitter: adumb
Or maybe it's time for a new Head Unit, seeing how this problem seems to follow it wherever it goes. I used the factory stereo harness for my head unit with no problems, I don't see how yours would be much different being that they are both GM. But do try a new ground first as this is the least expensive fix.
Last edited by dpcookson on Fri Oct 16, 2009 8:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I will update this when I have the time to rip my dash up and take the HU out and make up a new ground, I will also remove the remote 12v wire from running along with the RCA'S on the left side of the car. I don't think its my HU at this point. Any one have a picture of a good spot I can ground this beast to the fire wall or a bolt that one of you may have used? Thanks again guys you are great!
What kind of HU do you have? Pioneer? I ask because many Pioneers blow a small fuse that grounds the RCAs. I had to ground the RCA barrels to the case of the radio to stop a lot of noise in my car. Not totally gone, but it helped a lot. That's what I get for hot-swapping RCAs I guess.
in truth I do have a Pioneer deck hmm,not sure what model right now. how did you go about grounding the RCA's to the case? And Is this fuse just on the back of the decks or the inside? last thing hot swapping? unplugging the RCA's while the subs are going?
