Yet again, Car Stereo weird popping/static noise need help

[ATLien_0]

So this might be a little lengthy, but I am starting to get frustrated on this issue, going to go to Best Buy later to talk to an expert also.

Now about 2 years ago my jeep was broken into and my stereo at the time was stolen, Later that week I happen to run into a friend who gave me his deck out of his Honda in which he was selling. I tested it out and it worked great. The best part is that it was the exact same stereo that was stolen out of my jeep, just needed to switch out the wiring harness and plug it right up in my Jeep. Seems easy enough.

I have the basic 4 speaker setup as well as a small amp to power an 8 inch sub in my center console.

Now onto the problem

Basically at various times running the system whether its changing radio stations or just listening to music I will hear a loud pop from the sub (changing stations or turning the system on/off) or static coming from the speakers. The ironic thing is that is shows up on the cars input equalizer. It will spike out when this is happening, even with no music playing, it will show that it is picking up some kind of current.

Funny thing is that this has happened to me twice now with the car running on ACC/Battery only

I changed out the fuse and fuse holder on the amp because during the winter the amp stopped turning on, I tested the remote lead and it worked fine. once i replaced the fuse the amp turned on fine and the popping was gone all together, however now its back and even worse

Sometimes the stereo screen turns off while this is going on.

What I have done so far.

Replaced both wire harnesses again

Re Grounded the system 4 times now

Re wired the ground and main lead for the amp with new fuse and holder

Any ideas on what can still be causing this?

I am down to:

Amp is dying and some how causing voltage spikes

Voltage Spikes for somewhere else

Still a ground loop somewhere

Dying alternator

Faulty Remote Turn on Lead for Amp

Car Battery connections

Stereo is shorting out or dying

Now one might say, how come I havent just bought a new radio yet,

Well I am thinking of doing that soon, but am afraid I may just run into this probem again, want to cover all the bases

[MR_Candyman]

sounds like a grounding issue to me

[ATLien_0]

I havent rulled that out, however after regrounding it 4 times now its hard to say

The grounding set up right now is

Black ground wire on wire harness --> Black ground wire on stereo

Ground Strap/Security Strap --> Screw Hole on Back of stereo

This is the setup that I had on the last stereo and I never had this issue

[Hellacool]

Here is what I would do:

1 - Ground everything to the same point. Every stereo I ever installed I use this method. Just helps eliminate any form of ground loop.

2 - Use another means to remote turn on your amp. Anything that is ignition only would serve for this. What this does is allows the amp to turn on at a different rate then the stereo eliminating any turn on thumps.

It sounds in your case that you are getting a turn on thump but not when you would expect it, maybe a radio issue. With all that said, the only thing new introduced into your system is the radio. Could be that simple.

[ATLien_0]

Hellacool Thanks for the advice

As far as grounding to the same point, my ground for the stereo is right behind it and for the amp its right next to it which is under the driver seat. If I reground to one of those locations only won't distance of the wire be an issue?

[MR_Candyman]

Hellacool Thanks for the advice

As far as grounding to the same point, my ground for the stereo is right behind it and for the amp its right next to it which is under the driver seat. If I reground to one of those locations only won't distance of the wire be an issue?

yes, you would need to get thicker cabling for the ground cable if you were to run a long length. I doubt you need to go to that extreme though. There could be something else wrong, but it really does sound like a ground issue somewhere in the system.

[ATLien_0]

thats just it, i mean how frustrating this is. The stereo that I had before and what I have now are identical, nothing else changed. This is why I was thinking that either the new stereo is failing, the amp is failing or my alternator or battery are having issues.

I am going to pull the stereo out tonight and re wire the remote turn out. Earlier today the stereo started popping bad, the screen shut off, then when I turned the stereo back on the amp would not turn back on. I checked all the fuses and they were fine. A few minutes ago I tried again and the amp turns on fine.

Also when I change radio stations while it pops, the backlight on the stereo screen will dim a little

[MR_Candyman]

It could always be that the stereo itself is not grounding itself properly (which would be very frustrating)

[ATLien_0]

you mean internally in the stereo? or just that its not grounded to the car properly?

[MR_Candyman]

I meant it very well could be in the stereo

[ATLien_0]

Here is my plan of attack.

I am going to first disconnect the amp fuse to prevent the amp from turning on.

Not sure If I should also disconnect the remote lead and ground from the amp as well.

I am assuming that any grounding issue with the amp or remote lead with it will not pass through to the stereo if the fuse is disconnected right?

I want to see first if the issue is being caused by the amp. If the problem is still occurring after the amp is disconnected I can then verify it is either a grounding or voltage issue with the stereo

[AT]

I used to have a very similar problem with my Pioneer Premier deck, whenever I would change the source (CD/Radio/etc.) it would always pop. If I were you I'd give these a shot (I used 2 for 4 speakers), installed them and the popping was gone completely.

http://www.parts-express.com//pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=265-012&scqty=2&CFID=29804654&CFTOKEN=63835722

Good Luck :)

[ATLien_0]

ATOMIK, I have been considering a noise filter as a last ditch effort.

So I unplugged the fuse for the amp as well as the rca cables but left the ground and remote lead plugged in on the amp. Problem was still there. I didn't hear the static or popping through the speakers, but the graphic equalizer was all over the place. Funny thing is that this was while running on battery only, had not started the car yet.

If there were an issue with the ground on the amp, can that cause a ground loop into the stereo even if the amp fuse is removed and not powering the amp?

Any case it looks to be still a ground issue or a stereo malfunction. Or could be something else going on with my electrical system

[ATLien_0]

hey going to bump this, need help again.

So Im getting extremely frustrated on this one.

I just spent most of the day re wiring the stereo and amp. For the past few days I have had the amp to the sub unplugged (just the fuse not the remote or ground) to see if the issue was still there. The thumping was not there however I could see on the stereos Graphic EQ display it was still picking up odd noises.

Today I pull the stereo out of the dash and rewired the ground yet again, this time using only one ground wire directly to the bolt behind the dash where the factory had placed its security bracket. I also moved the ground for the amp to a bolt on the drivers seat. I made sure that there was some bare metal showing on the bolt as well as the seat post. So from there I screwed the stereo back into place as well as the amp, did not put the covers back on the dash however. Fired the Jeep up and switched between the radio and AUX and the problem was gone. I tried both on battery and full start it worked fine. This was 2 hours ago.

I just went to move the Jeep and put the covers back on the dashboard and bam the probelm is back again. I switched to Radio and immediately the display dimmed a little, EQ maxed out, loud pop on the sub etc. I turned of the stereo and tried turning it on again, only this time the amp would not turn on. Tried once more and the amp turned on fine.

At this point I am so lost, I never had this issue before with the previous stereo which was the same exact one. The grounds for both systems are as good as I can get

I have tried a few different car stereo places to no help

I can only think at this point that the amp and stereo are failing or that my electrical system has got a problem, any ideas?

[micro]

Either the RCA's on the back of the head unit have bad ground, or you have a ground loop.

[ATLien_0]

Thats the thing

The RCAs were also unplugged last week, forgot to add that in and the problem was still there. Ground loop wise I can't think of anyway else to fix that, I have re grounded the system 5 times now at various location too

[ATLien_0]

i am wondering this

the ground for the stereo is very clean

for the amp, is the seat bolt a good location for the ground?

should I also try grounding the rcas as well?

when the issue was going on last week with the amp fuse out, the ground for it was still attached. if there is a ground loop with the amp will that still be a problem even if the fuse is out?

[Gold_Yoshi]

*another bump* I am also having pretty near the same exact issue, except with a sub. Solve gamestar's problem so I can try his solution! :unsure:

[ATLien_0]

well good news, hopefully, I think I solved it.

Yesterday I flipped my drivers seat up to look at the amp, as soon as I did that I saw a little spark between the amp and the seat. It looks like there is a small metal tab for the wire harness for the seat belt sensor to connect to. That small tab was slightly touching the amp. I am assuming this created the ground loop. Today I am attempting to reposition the amp, however I am noticing some clearance issues with a cross bar on the seat and the height of the amp. So it looks like I might have to create a box to protect the amp or move it to another location