I'm having a very strange problem recently with the sound system in my car. Occasionally the sound will cut out and no sound will come out of the speakers. I'm also having the problem of my subs hitting when they aren't supposed too. I'm running a Kenwood deck that runs into a BOSE adapter, I took the dash apart to see if maybe a wire had come loose and was touching metal and grounding out to shut off the sound. Well I tightened all the connections and but the problem continues. I turned the car on to see if I could identify where the problem was coming from and it happens when I shook both ground wires. Now here's where things get a little weird, it only happens when my car is cold, as soon as the car is warmed up it stops for some reason. I am really confused as to why this happening, I would like to see if anyone on here knows what the problem could be before I take it to Car Toys to have them look at it. Sorry if the post is a little confusing, I tried my best to explain it. I hope you guys can help.

Adam

 

My first guess would be a bad ground wire or connection. Second would be a similar problem with the power wires. Does the sound cut out completely and the headunit turn off? Or does just the sub turn off? If just the sub it could be the sub wireing or the remote turn on lead.

The thing about when the car is cold could be a few different things. But what I am thinking is that when the car first turns on and the battery is nearly dead you don't have enough voltage to turn on the stereo system, or at least not the amp. Once it warms up a bit the alternator has been running long enough to bring the battery voltage up to a point where the system can power up. Many headunits and amps have a minimum voltage of about 11.0 volts. If this is what is causing the problem then it could be the wireing or even a bad battery. If turning the car on drains the battery enough to drop the voltage below 11.0 volts, it's probably worn out. Or the water level could be low. A digital multimeter could help analyze your voltage issues.

 

The headunit doesn't completly just shut off it just cuts ut and buzzes sometime if it keeps doing it I just hit the side and it will turn back on. and the subs don't turn off they just start hitting when this happens. This started happening before my amp was installed, so I don't think it's directly related to that, but I could be wrong. Could the battery be dying like you said or an alternator problem? Thanks for the help.

Adam

 

If smacking the HU is enough to occasionally remedy the problem it's likely a bad wireing job connecting the headunit. Or a bad connection in the headunit. The first problem to fix is the headunit. Without the HU you have no sound, so start there. Then if other problems still exist work your way down the line. Note that a poorly wired HU can send a bad signal to the speakers and amps. And could be damaged by this if severe enough. I know at least one person who refuses to properly mount their HU and wires get shorted behind it constantly. It's already screwed up two headunits, a set of RCA cables and blown an amp. It's possible that all these other things were just coincidental but unlikely.

 

So are you saying that the problem could be within the headunit itself? Because I bought the unit off of Ebay brand new so that means that I don't have a store to take it back too . Would I have to go through Kenwood to get it fixed? Also could the adapter not performed it's job and the unit fried because of the resistance in the BOSE speakers?? It was a 400 dollar headunit and I am hoping it's not a lemon or something, i have had the thing installed for 4 months and it only started happening a month or so ago.

Adam

 

I don't know what's wrong. I can only make vague guesses. If it were mine and I wanted to find out as much as possible for as little as possible I would go to a Kenwood installer. Have them check the setup and diagnose the problem.

Also, check the faq's at the top of the audio forum. There should be a link with a bunch of adobe installation files.