Alternator Whine FIXED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

12014 Views 23 Replies 13 Participants Last post by Abobo, 2 mo ago

nyrican

Discussion Starter · Dec 31, 2008 (Edited)

So I have read countless threads on how many issues people have with engine/alternator noise after installing aftermarket stereo systems. I dealt with mine for a while but it drove me to the point of insanity and I finally found something that actually worked. I will post detailed pics tommorrow when theres some good sun light out. What I did was replace the ground wire on the drivers side that goes from the shock tower to the exhaust manifold. After replacing that ONE wire with a 4ga piece the noise went completely away. I no have absolutely no engine noise and it was way more simple and cheap than all the other things I had done to correct the problem. I did every test and fix you can imagine, exotic RCA's, moved ground points, upgrade factory battery ground, ran H/U ground to the battery, powered the H/U from the lighter and with the PAC unit, ran the RCA'S on the drivers side(as far as possible from the main power line hat goes along the length of the passenger side) along with the speaker wires and replaced(just swapped temporarily with known working devices) all of the system components one by one and couldn't catch a break. So after reading a thread over on LX forums about some trying to sell some of those ricey (HYPERGROUNDING kits) I decided to change the weaker looking grounds under the hood and the first freaking one I replaced eliminated this freaking noise. Anyway I'll post pics of the culprit and the whole sytem in the morning, I hope this will help some of you out there who have just given up and learned to live with the noise!:beerchug:

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nyrican

Discussion Starter · #2 · Dec 31, 2008

Here is the amp and x-over set-up

The system consists of ...

H/U Eclipse AVN7000
Front stage Diamond Audio D971'S
JL Audio 450/4
MMATS D800.1 Mono amp
2 MMATS 12" subs in a ported enclosure
Cheap Wal-Mart JVC 6x9's to replace the paper stockers

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05MagnumRT

· #3 · Dec 31, 2008

nyrican said:
What I did was replace the ground wire on the drivers side that goes from the shock tower to the exhaust manifold. After replacing that ONE wire with a 4ga piece the noise went completely away.

Sounds great since I'm having this very same problem. Can you give a little more information? I have no idea what a shock tower is. Could you provide a picture of the wire you replaced? What model magnum do you have? Would this apply for the RT?

QuickSilver08

· #4 · Dec 31, 2008

Nice! Congrats on the fix and thanks for the info.

But...pix of the repair would help a little bit more!!

gstr6800

· #5 · Dec 31, 2008

05MagnumRT said:
Sounds great since I'm having this very same problem. Can you give a little more information? I have no idea what a shock tower is. Could you provide a picture of the wire you replaced? What model magnum do you have? Would this apply for the RT?

This is what I mentioned to you. Upgrade the ground wire to a size larger than the power, and you will work wonders. The diagram I sent shows that.

05MagnumRT

· #6 · Dec 31, 2008

gstr6800 said:
This is what I mentioned to you. Upgrade the ground wire to a size larger than the power, and you will work wonders. The diagram I sent shows that.

I looked at your diagram again. I don't see where you mentioned anything about a shock tower. If I knew what that was or where it was I may not be so dumbfounded. The digaram shows you using 1/0Ga for the positive but doesn't say anything about the ground wire coming out of the batter. Are you and him talking about upgrading the wire that comes off the batter and connects to the chassis of the car?

Talk to me like I'm a 5 year old

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nyrican

Discussion Starter · #7 · Dec 31, 2008

pics make everything easier

Here you go ....

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2

jayalbertcars

· #8 · Jan 1, 2009

hello intersting info

gstr6800

· #9 · Jan 1, 2009

05MagnumRT said:
I looked at your diagram again. I don't see where you mentioned anything about a shock tower. If I knew what that was or where it was I may not be so dumbfounded. The digaram shows you using 1/0Ga for the positive but doesn't say anything about the ground wire coming out of the batter. Are you and him talking about upgrading the wire that comes off the batter and connects to the chassis of the car?

Talk to me like I'm a 5 year old

In the diagram, you will see the size of the grounds (black) coming off the amps are larger than the power (blue) cables. There are no grounds going to the battery from the equipment. That would create a ground loop if you run the grounds straight to the battery. If you notice the ground from the battery ties directly to a lug on the chassis. That is the same way you should run your grounds from your equipment.

Bigg Boy

· #10 · Jan 2, 2009

hmmmm i have grounds from my block to a ground, but I guess I need to do this one, thanks

nyrican

Discussion Starter · #11 · Jan 2, 2009

Let me know if it worked for you.

Bigg Boy

· #12 · Jan 2, 2009

aint got nothing in the car right now, doors are coming off, but I will let you know

Bigal470

· #13 · Jan 2, 2009 (Edited)

nice i did mine a year or so ago used 4 gauge you can see it connect between the strut cap and over flow tank it goes down to the block. by the way the 6.1 has the ground in a different location so if you dont see it in that location dont fret i found mine behind the passenger side strut cap!

you should upgrade this and the negative cable on the battery which is very small for what reason i don't know...

if you want good info on electronics go to this site
Basic Car Audio Electronics

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bighurb

· #14 · Jan 2, 2009

Man I love this place, for reasons like this, I will be doing this when the sun comes up.

05MagnumRT

· #15 · Apr 6, 2010

I know this is an old post but I figured I would post my findings since I was successful in my final attempt to get rid of the alternator noise.

I never had to change any grounds at all.

I purchased a quality set of twisted sheilded RCA cables from Amazon and ran them down the left side of the car away from the power wire.

I also purchased the newest PAC audio harness PAC C2R-CHY4 from Amazon for 73 bucks.

After installing these 2 new devices to my Pioneer Z-2 and Kenwood amp, I had zero noise from the alternator.

One last minor change I made was to move the amp to the left side of the trunk storage compartment. Didn't know if this would help but I figured any bit would help.

Hope this helps anyone that has been dealing with it like I have been.

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dodirty

· #16 · Apr 9, 2010

This is gr8 but will this help with dimming headlights? I just put another sub amp in (kicker zr1000) and i put my hid's in and now the lights flicker like crazy when the bass hits.

nyinstaller

· #17 · Apr 9, 2010

if your hids are flickering then you are dropping the voltage lower than 10 volts. which meansyou either need a new battery , an additional battery , or your alt is no longer supporting anything. hids require a lot less power then regular headlight bulbs.

in fact if you had hid healights and foglights it would probably draw equal to or less than just your headlights.

Radglenn

· #18 · Apr 9, 2010

OR he needs to upgrade the stock power leads... the Triple Pay or whatever it is called.....

bookeem

· #19 · Apr 9, 2010

Radglenn said:
OR he needs to upgrade the stock power leads... the Triple Pay or whatever it is called.....

lmao Glenn, the triple play is Optimum Cable Services, ordeal, internet, cable and home phone for 99.99

u mean the big 3...:beerchug:

dodirty

· #20 · Apr 9, 2010

i have done head and fog hids but i had alot dimming before and now its more noticeable 2 me cuz i just like to look at the lights. I have added another 4gauge ground on the battery and i will attempt to add0 gauge under the hood and see if that helps. Do you think an upgraded battery will help?

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