Engine Noise on Aftermarket CdPlayer

[HybridAMP]

Just curious if anyone else had engine noise (alternator whine) when they completely converted their system to aftermarket?

Im thinking its a ground problem or something with the antenna because my deck works without a ground connected when the antenna is connected and no matter how well I actually ground the ground wire, I still get engine noise, plus the antenna doesn't pick up near as good as it did with the stock system, just curious if anyone had this problem and how they fixed it...

Thanks!

[frogg]

I had the same problem.
Sorry to say, but I never fixed the problem completely. Using a ground-loop isolator got rid of a lot of it.
I didn't fix it because I took my stereo out and put the stock one back in. I remember my car sounding like a remote control car when I hit the gas :cheeky:

[P10 WRC]

i had the same problem when i first put in my deck-to tell you the truth, it was a loose wire on the rear speakers. i thought it was a grounding problem too-just check your connections, that might be all it is.

[frogg]

Or check here:
http://www.mmxpress.com/technical/noise.htm

[HybridAMP]

Yeah, Im in the same situation as you.

No one else got the problem? Or get it resolved?
lol

[kfairburn]

man I'm kicking myself trying to remember what my problem was....

When I bought my primera everything was great but after a while I too got seriously bad whining noises when I put on the Revs. I took it to a garage and they told me what the problem was but I cant for the life of me remember what it was although the problem I had was relating to the actual head unit... something to do with an internal interferance shield or something.....

Anyway, I eventually swopped it out for the really nice one I have now and all is sorted.

I guess your problems are going to be different but I thought I would share my experience too.

One other thing.. does your stereo have that feature when you speed up it gets louder to offset the increase in engine noise...... because mine does and for it to work it is attached in someway so that it can get a reading of your revs so it knows when you are going faster.... maybe that bears some relevance.

Hope this helps anyway

Kev

[HybridAMP]

Yeh, there is a lot of possibilites. The only normal problems that I have isolated not to be the problem is that the noise has to be comming in at the headunit and most likely on the ground.
heh
go figure.

Thanks though!

[boingo82]

Same prob on a new head unit install. Let me know if anyone finds out anything!

[A380Driver]

Hey...does the fuel pump rpm increase with engine RPM?...

[GTA_G20]

Originally posted by HybridAMP
Yeh, there is a lot of possibilites. The only normal problems that I have isolated not to be the problem is that the noise has to be comming in at the headunit and most likely on the ground.
heh
go figure.

Thanks though!

I agree. When I swapped my factory for an aftermarket I got the noise too. I think the screws that mout the factory deck are grounds aswell. Hope ur using em

[HybridAMP]

Yes, you are correct. The chasis itself is a ground, as the factory ground wire isnt so you can eliminate a lot of the noise by running the ground wire to one of the mounting screws of chasis that holds the radio, I did figure that much also. The main ground for the system and probably the biggest source of the noise that I have found is the stock antenna. The Diversity antenna grounds the radio itself, meaning you can plug the antenna in and not hook up the ground on the deck and it will work fine, just that you can eliminate some of the noise by actually grounding it like I said above. Anyways, thats what I have found out so far and now it's at a level so low that I do not really notice it and have grown to live with though the radio reception on the stock antenna sucks, thats the hardest thing to live with... :(

[rmjjensen]

Ahhhh ground loop and alternator whines....they suck don't they? Don't confuse the too...they are different but can produce the same effect of hearing the engine through the stereo.

Ground loops are usually easier to fix in that it can usually be resolved by relocating some of your wires. The most common source of ground loop comes from the preamps. I found that while installing my system, STAY AWAY FROM UNDER THE PASSENGER SIDE OF THE DASH. Oh man, there is a lot of interferance under there. The best place to run preamps is RIGHT down the center of the vehicle. Take out the arm rest console part and shove em under the rug. Then remove the back seat and presto. It'd not difficult and will most likely solve the problem if you determine that it's the preamps giving you the noise.

Of course the noise can be introduced by other sources, but in my experience it's usually the preamps...either bad quality or routed in correctly.

More common sources are a bad quality receiver, electro-magnetic interferance (alternator whine), antenna, or even loose grounds/connections.

It's highly possible that the antenna could be a problem for ground loop to come into play because of our diversity antenna reception crap. They do make antenna isolators. If you determine that to be your problem maybe investing in one will help:

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-br6rYjBxZz9/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?i=003AS100&s=0

Oh yeah - my FM reception sucks as well!!! :(

[A380Driver]

Cool i'll hafta try to run the preamps down then middle...I too had them on the pax side becuase i relocated my battery to the trunk and have that huge wire running back...woo hoo.

One thing that I noticed is that my AM reception really really sucks...and i can hear some feedback noise that doesnt change with engine RPM, but its just some sort of whine feedback. Hm...wierd.

[boingo82]

I don't think the preamp routing thing is my problem...everything is stock except for the headunit, though I'm running thru the preamp outs which have been spliced to a plug into the stock wiring...As for the diversity antenna, I got a diversity antenna adapter and plugged it all together, but one of the ends of the adapter (which is Y-shaped) hangs free 'cause we couldn't find anything to plug it into. Could this be a problem?

[HybridAMP]

No, thats actually just the normal Nissan Diversity plug antenna converter, it just happens to have that extra plug, shouldn't be a big issue.

[P10 WRC]

listen i am telling you that the first thing you should always do when you hear a whine is check your connections. make sure they are intact. use butt connectors for everything, not just electrical tape. and did you say you have your pre amp out slpiced into your stock wiring? why would you do that? the preamp outs do not change voltage, while the high level speaker outputs do. if you really want to do it that way you have to get an adapter to convert the low level(preamp out) to high level so that your speakers will sound right.

[boingo82]

The reason the preamp outs are going into the stock system is that I'm still using the stock amps and don't want to blow them. I also don't want a touchy volume control. I didn't use electrical tape, everything is soldered together and then coated in heat-shrink. My dad did it..and he fixes laser PCB's for a living, and knows somewhat what he's doing.

[rmjjensen]

oh boy....you can't splice automotive preamp. They are exteremely sensitive to noise, especially considering the preamp output voltage of the stock bose is most likely lower than any interference in the automobile.

My best advice is to use the amplifier in the receiver to power the bose speakers AFTER the bose amp in the trunk. It'll probably be pretty loud considering the speakers are 2-ohm.

[boingo82]

?? I don't have Bose. It's a 1994. Won't I have to run wire throughout the car? I don't really want to bypass the factory amps.

[rwoodbridge1]

For people that are still having problems. The reason for Engine whine is one of 2.

1. You stereo is not grouned properly. Be sure that you have it grounded properly and invest in a ground Loop it really does take care of it.

2. If you are running AMPS, 99.9% of the time the reason you get engine feedback is because you run your preouts on the same side of the car as you do your power wire. You will get feedback from that. Run your power wires through the passenger side and your preouts through the drivers side or the middle if possible. The reason for running the power on the passengers side of a G is because that is where the factory ran 75% of it's power wires. Hope this helps everyone.

Ricky