speakers picking up engine wine

[fly68]

I just installed my stereo system today. The power for the amp's is coming through on the passenger side and the RCA's are on the drivers side. I still have to clean the wires up but the RCA's are not touching or crossing the power cables, some of the speaker wires are. What is the best way to get rid of that irritating engine wine?

[nine_deuce]

It's probably a bad ground. What do you have your amp grounded to?

[mtnbikaah]

agreed with the bad ground...

i have the engine wine when i listen to AM radio... (but who listens to AM radio anymore???)

[PointBlank]

Are you running a Pioneer head unit? They are notorious for engine whine. You could try a ground loop isolator, or grounding you RCA's. I'll see if I can dig a picture up on how to do it.

edit:
something like this

[Sarthos]

Explain your system more in depth. Do you have your amp running to a sub or do you have a 2/4 channel amp going to speakers? Where are you grounded to? Do you have your battery under the hood or in the trunk? Etc.

If it's a pioneer headunit the problem can be fixed by grounding your RCAs. Otherwise I fixed a problem with my Eclipse unit by running a ground wire from the battery to the headunit. You can also move the wires around while listening to the stereo to see if anything makes them more or less noisy. If moving them in a certain direction makes them more noisy then something in that direction is generating the noise. It's also possible that the RCA itself is faulty (like it has an internal short) which you could try fixing by replacing it if you have a spare RCA cable.

If the problem isn't fixed by grounding the headunit or the RCAs it's most likely grounding a bigger part of the system, either the amp or the charging system. If it's the charging system you probably have either a bad wire from the battery to the frame or the battery to the block (if your battery is in the front). To fix that just replace the battery grounds with some nice 4, 2, or 0 gauge wire depending on your system's needs.

Otherwise it is the amp to frame ground, which is simple enough to fix, just make sure that your amp is grounded to a really good ground. If you have a battery in the trunk ground it to that and you should never have a problem. Otherwise just make sure you're grounding to a large enough bolt that goes deep enough into the metal. Or run a ground wire all the way from the battery to the trunk, works either way.

The last possibility is that a part of your stereo system or electrical system is faulty. A dying alternator or weak battery can generate noise, as well as a damaged amp or headunit. That's the least likely unless you have problems on only one of multiple channels.

[stevediraddo]

engine whine through the audio system can also occur if any audio grounds accidentally make contact with the chassis ground. speakers should never be grounded at all (both wires go directly to amp) and inputs should have their own isolated grounds. simple mistake, but always overlooked.

[fly68]

Well, to start with, what I thought was the stock amp in the trunk turned out to be the ABS computer. My ABS isn't working anyway and the ABS was grounded to the frame so I used that to ground my amps to. I have a JBL 3501 GTO sub amp and a JBL 4 channel CS series amp. Now, the engine noise has to have something to do with the amps because I installed the Pioneer Premier Series head unit and ran it without the amps and there was no engine noise coming through the speakers, so logically, it has to have something to do with the amps. The amps are installed on the back of the back seat that folds down. I had to use self tapping screws to hold them down and I've heard that if your amps are connected to metal in any way they can pick up engine noise and to remedy that you just screw down a piece of 3/4" plywood first and then screw your amp to the wood. I bought better RCA cables, Raptor neon blew series, double shielded, 24 carat plated, and damn near as thick as my power cables for the amps. They didn't do anything for the engine noise, but there is a noticeable improvement in sound quality, so it was worth it anyway. I have no headlight flicker when the subs pound hard, so I don't think its a power or ground issue, but I'm a total newbie at any type of auto work but I am mechanically inclined. Just didn't know it till I tried, so I'll be damned before I pay Car Toys (money rapists) or any other shop to fix this. I've come this far, so why give up now? Right?

[sonikaccord]

It's the hu...you said pioneer. That's all I needed to hear.

[Sarthos]

Headunit. Your logic fails, the headunit doesn't have any noise through the high voltage speaker outputs, but it has a blown pico fuse causing interference to the RCA outputs.

This link should explain how to fix it
http://www.caraudio.com/forum/wiring...whine-fix.html

[fly68]

engine whine fixed!

Well, thank's to all who advised me to ground my RCA's. I didn't have to spend a dime and that makes me really happy when I don't have to spend any money. An easy fix to really irritating problem. What a relief. Now I need to figure out how to run speaker wire from my 4 channel amp to the door speakers. I hope it is easier to figure out than getting rid of that engine whine.

[PointBlank]

Now I need to figure out how to run speaker wire from my 4 channel amp to the door speakers. I hope it is easier to figure out than getting rid of that engine whine.

That's an easy one. Just tap onto the wires from the factory harness that go to those speakers. No need to run new wires through the door.

[Tippey764]

I get interference too but only if

My iphone is charging while its plugged in playing sound

And if i poke my faceplate it goes away

[WhiteGhost]

Bad Rca' cables Bad ground or you have your Rca's ran with your power wire.............Thats it