I hear the alternator whistling through my speakers. I've taken the car back to the installer twice, now, but to no avail. They spent a HUGE amount of time and effort trying a lot of things, but the darn thing still whistles. Last trip they just turned their pockets inside-out and said, "Sorry. We can't fix it." The good news: They did not charge me a dime for all their trouble. The system sounded just great before we relocated the [Optima yellow top] battery to the trunk. Any ideas what the fundamental problem is? Thanks for your feedback...

 

At first I thought it was the headunit ground. Now I think it is one of the battery or alternator grounds. Or the ground from engine to chassis.

 

I had the same problem, but when I re-wired my system....I made sure to run the RCA's on one side of the car and the power cable coming from the battery on the other side of the car....so basically keep those two away from each other. Also, check your ground for your amps. Try to keep the ground wire as short as possible and try finding metal that's not painted. Separating my RCA's from the power cable got ride of the whine.

 

Today, as I listened to a whistling accompaniment to NPR News on my radio, I just happened to turn off my lights during a pause in the newscast. (I always drive with my headlights and foglights on, rain or shine, day or night.) At the exact moment I switched my lights off, that annoying whistling stopped! I turned my lights back on, and the whistling resumed as before. Why would my lights cause a whistle on my stereo? I think we may be on to something here...

Any more ideas? Thanks.

 

I believe that this is a fairly well documented problem that usually occurs when stereo components with poor power regulation are used. When you turn on your headlights, the load on the electical system is increased and the alternator becomes "active". Actually it's the voltage/current regulators in the alternator that become active. Anyway, as the alternator begins outputing its energy, small surges and variances occur in the entire electical system. This is the cause of your noise. Look for a "power feed noise filter" for your amp, install it, and hopefully the problem will go away.

Some other people on the board may have a better name for the product. I think it's usually some type of inductor . . .

 

It's not the stereo equipments regulator so much as the wiring. It is alternator whine, this is why the noise changes as engine speed inceases. A filter is only a bandaid, not a solution for the problem.

 

My first thoughts are to redo all the engine and frame grounds under the hood.
There's only one small 4 awg wire on the battery ground to the frame under the hood... it's been well noted on the 3rd gens that adding another larger ground helps with weird car problems and even makes the headlights brighter...

But when you look at the engine itself, there's about a zillion small ground straps on it.. add another good sized (at least 8awg. 4 or 2 awg would be best) ground from the alternator case to the engine block, then at least a 4 awg strap from your block to the frame of the car. be sure to sand smooth all the spots before you attach the wires, and cover them with some grease or paint when you're done to prevent corrosion.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, but they put one on there and it STILL whistles. It just made the whistling a little softer...

 

Obviously you only read the post that said nothing. Read Matts post and Mine above. The ground from engine to chassis on the 4th gen is only 6 gauge. I'm using 1/0 in my car.

 

I had the same problem in my car. But I Put on a Noise Filter, and the problem went away 100%. Not even audible on an RTA.

Some people say noise filters are just band-aids, but after re-wiring my system TWICE with the power and RCA'a on each side of the car, The Head Unit ground in about 5 different places, including directly on the negative battery post, etc, etc......still had the problem.

And for me, the filter worked awesome. I'm using PPI and PG Equipment, so I doubt that's the problem.'

Anyway, my point is that noise filters can and do work...sometimes.

IanS

 

Ian,
Did you ever get those kickpanels installed?

 

Yep.

Here are some pictures:

http://www.cyberhub.net/maxpics.htm

I think there's one in there of the kicks before I repainted them the second time.

They look a little better now, because I repainted both them and the grilles to match better, but you get the idea.

IanS

 

Oh yeah, and I've rewired my system since then, so ignore the pictures of the ugly wiring. I had been doing some troubleshooting on the whistling noise that day, and it looks messy

IanS

 

The power supply in the amp should have inductors/coils to reduce noise in the power line. If it doesn't then the noise from the alternater will be amplified.