engine noise HELP!

[st33lownz]

alternator engine noise

I have almost the same problem as this thread = alternator engine noise I have a Kicker KX800.4 amplifier. That makes alternator noise. I have regrounded everything. It even makes the noise when the truck is not running and when the RCA's are unplugged from the amp. The thing is that it isn't always broken, sometimes it will give a loud pop or 2 and then turn back on and work just like normal. Once it is working like normal it usually won't go back to engine noise until I turn off my truck. It is a 1998 Dodge Ram 5.2Liter. If you need more info just ask. Please help. If it is the amp what would cause it to work sometimes?

[sdoom]

Usually that is still a ground-problem. But if the noise doesn´t occur all the time , your amplifier propably has a problem. Sometimes it´s bad solder joints ( inside the amplifier) that causes that kind of noise.

But re-check all wirings to the amplifier . Also make sure the ground-cable that runs from the battery to your car´s chassis is in very good condition.

The car amplifier should always be mounted isolated from the chassis .

If you run the GND-cable from the amplifier to a near chassis-point , make sure that there is no paint at the mounting point.

A friend of mine had that problem on his BWM540i, the dealer told us that the BMW have such a good rust-protection that some metalsheets might not be really good conductors , as paint and stuff is placed between metalsheets prior to soldering. In his car, we installed heavy + and - cables and placed big distribution blocks to his trunk . Also, we connected the + and - cable from the radio to those distr. blocks in the trunk, and that eliminated all the noise

But if the noise is there although the engine is off, your amplifier might have a problem !

[marinbnm]

Maybe you just need to put choke in serial with player, or amp????

Does this hapens from the day you installed or it's before run ok??

[st33lownz]

It has worked fine for about 2 years and I didn't change anything when it started happening. Is it possible that it is the power remote wire somehow? I haven't bypassed that yet to see if it still does it. I can't actually see where the ground connects to the chassis since it is under the carpet and I would have to take out the seats which are now bolted together by my center console that is my speaker box. So I would have to take out my subwoofer then unbolt the box/center console. Then unbolt the seats and unscrew the amp rack from the floor just to look. The reason I dont think it is the ground on the chassis is because I have my other amp grounded in the same place with ring connectors. The other amp works fine for the sub. If I put in a CD I can even hear the right bass for the music. Could it be a speaker wire? I haven't messed with them at all, but maybe one is touching some sort of ground. What gets me is that it doesn't have to be running to make the errrrr noise. It does it with just the car on and then picks up the alternator when I start it. Sometimes though I can just turn the ignition "on", but not start it and it will do the errrrr noise, but then pop back on without any vibration or electrical change in the system. Like it has a mind of it's own.

[sdoom]

Well, then I think it´s a bad solder joint inside the amplifier. When the stuff gets older those problems occur.

If your amplifier is in reach and not mounted inside a speaker box or something than you could test the ground connection by just using a new ground cable . But i think the problem would still be there as I know how most amplifiers look inside - and in most cases it is just a question of time when the amplifier will cause trouble.


When the distorting sounds appear, does it change if you touch the RCA-plugs connected to the amplifier ?

[st33lownz]

the sound doesn't change if I mess with the RCA's. I can even unplug them and nothing changes. I wrote to Kicker about it and this is what they replied:

The only thing I can guess is that you have the power wire running near
another high current power source, or your ground(s) have started corroding.
Clean you grounds and if the problem still exists try moving the power wire.
Beyond that I suggest you take your vehicle to an authorized Kicker dealer
and have them troubleshoot it for you.

Drew Hazel
Technical Support


If it is a bad solder joint would it be possible for me to take a bunch of pictures of the inside of my amp and host them on my website for you to view and maybe tell me which one it is and how I can fix it myself or is the amp just going to get worse and not be fixable?

[sdoom]

hi


everything is fixeable , it always depends on the effort


Well, I do a lot of amplifier repairs . I lost my job some time ago, econmy got quite bad over the last year and a lot of companies closed. I hope you guys overthere have better days coming than we do around here. Sometimes I get cheap and broken amps on ebay, fix them and sell them again, I wont get rich but it´s better than nothing and time passes faster if you got something to do.

Back to the topic. As I said, I do a lot of repair jobs and I found that most failures are caused by bad solder joints. In those areas where power-transistors and MOSFET cause a lot of heat the soldering gets bad . It´s like a loose connection, and this always gets worse when the product is heating up. Also the joints of the terminals (where the terminals are connected to the curcuit board) often get bad because of the stress the heavy wires put on the terminals, most of the time the terminals themselves are just held down with one or two screws, same thing for the RCA-jacks.

Before I start working on an amplifier I always resolder the whole curcuitboard. I really got tired and it often pixxed me off when I was looking for a faulty part and had to recognize (after hours of searchcing) that a bad solder joint was the cause , although they often still look good.

But yes, make pictures.


Sdoom