KCMaxima98

iTrader: (4)

I have had my system put together for about a year and a half now and I haven't had any trouble until now. My h/u cuts out off and on. The power stays on and the screen doesn't dim but it gets real distorted just for a second and then cuts seems to be cutting the signal from the RCA's off and on. It comes back on and plays normally after it does this a couple of times. It seems to happen most often when I start up the car but lately it has happened out of the blue while driving down the highway.
I'm not running any speakers off of the h/u. It is a deh-4600 or something like that and I just use the front and back RCA's for my amps. It doesn't seem to be a problem with the amps because both seem to be shutting off at pretty much the same time when this happens. It happens when I'm playing the radio as well as CD's. Anybody have any suggestions besides the standard "check your grounds" response? My system is in my sig here and I haven't changed anything recently so I'm doubting it has anything to do with my install. thanks guys.

nismos14

iTrader: (56)

We say check your grounds when there is a ground issue. It's not a standard response.

ANYWAYS, sounds like there is a problem with either your outputs from the HU or the amps. If the HU isn't dimming I'm inclined to thnk its an amp problem.

KCMaxima98

iTrader: (4)

I wasn't necessarily talking about this forum. Anyways why if both amps shut down at the same time would you think it to be an amp problem? If one was flipping off and on I would guess that, but both?

nismos14

iTrader: (56)

Oh ok, I forgot that part of your post, if thats the case It seems like its either a problem with the remote wire or the HU output. Do the amps actually power off completely? or just not get signal?

KCMaxima98

iTrader: (4)

I can't tell if the amps are actually powering off or not. This problem happens very irregularly and just for a couple of seconds. I'm not quick enough to get back to the trunk and look . The remote wire is a good idea. I could just run another from the fuse box and see if that takes care of it. Hopefully it isn't the RCA's which is what I was leaning towards.

Also...I hear some crackling and distortion for just an instant before it cuts off. I doubt the amps are shutting off now that I thought about that.

nismos14

iTrader: (56)

I had a some what similar problem with my pioneer... my guess is that it is the HU outputs. Pioneer is notorious for that.

KCMaxima98

iTrader: (4)

I was thinking I probably wasn't the only one that had this issue. How did you fix it? Did it include ripping it out and putting a new eclipse in there? That was what I was pondering doing.

nismos14

iTrader: (56)

Do that! get a CD5000

But no I still have my Pioneer, it had to be repaired by pioneer. It's done me well besides the little issue.

KCMaxima98

iTrader: (4)

Was it covered under warranty? Mine is a couple of years old so I'm not thinking they would fix this for free. Any idea what it costs?

nismos14

iTrader: (56)

Ya for me it was premier units have a 2 year warranty and I bought mine through Don so no issues.

Cd5000 is like $450 or so?

KCMaxima98

iTrader: (4)

No I was wondering if you knew how much it would cost to fix the problem with the pioneer. Since yours was handled under warranty you probably dont know.
I have been looking at the cd4000 and 5000 a little bit. I'm worried about the 5V preouts on these things. My older fosgate amp is only supposed to take 3 volts or so throught the rca's. I'm afraid I'm going to fry the inputs on the amp.

nismos14

iTrader: (56)

Ya I'm not sure.

Don't worry about the preouts, you'll be absolutely fine. CD5000 is 8v preout.

KCMaxima98

iTrader: (4)

Did your preouts on your pioneer fail altogether or did you have this same issue where it starts and stops with the signal?

nishfish871

iTrader: (5)

Will you fry the inputs if you input an 8v into a 6.5v max input amp?

nismos14

iTrader: (56)

Preouts cut in and out.

No you won't fry the amp.

KCMaxima98

iTrader: (4)

UPDATE:

I'm thinking it isn't my head unit now that is causing the problem. The music cut out when I was parked so I ran back to the trunk and noticed that the amps ARE powering off. The first thing I did was check the main fuse by the battery. It is discolored and somehow there is melted metal that has dried on the plastic fuseholder. But the fuse didn't blow. Somehow things are getting really hot in there. It is only a 60amp fuse which according to Rockford, is about 60 amps too small for the two amps Im running. Anyways, this fuse never blew so I never put a bigger one in there. Any idea why metal would melt inside the fuseholder but it wouldn't blow the fuse? I'm really confused now. I thought it was safe to run too small of a fuse rather than too large. I mean I thought the worst that could happen is the fuse would blow.....not melt!

nismos14

iTrader: (56)

Replace that portion of wiring and get a new larger fuse, that should take care of the whole problem.

KCMaxima98

iTrader: (4)

Yeah, I guess I should move up to 80 or 100 amp fuse. I'll have to get a new fuse-holder too that fits on 4 gauge because the melted metal is stuck on there. I tried to chisel it off and it's not working. WOW, my max almost burned down. That wouldn't have been cool. I'm still confused why things would start melting before the fuse blew.

slickrick

iTrader: (12)

weird things happen with fuses..I had 2 die on me without actually breaking. get a 100 amp fuse and call it a day.

KCMaxima98

iTrader: (4)

I scraped the molten metal from the inside of my fuse-holder and put a 100 amp fuse in there and now everything is cool. I already had my wife talked into letting me get a new eclipse so I might have to sabotage the old pioneer . Ha, no I really don't want the hassle of tearing all this apart again so I'm cool for now. Thanks for all the suggestions.

nismos14

iTrader: (56)

Ah c'mon 4th gen dash is cake to take apart!!