"Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!" I can't stand it anymore!

[302markVII]

I installed a CD player with CD Disc Changer a while back but for the life of me I can't figure out why it makes a buzzing sound when the car is on.

Today I went to Circuit City and bought two noise filters for the RCAs that run to the amp in the back but that didn't change a thing. It sounds almost the same. I have a wiring harness so everything should have gone smoothly but it didn't.

I thought that perhaps the ground was bad somewhere so to check it I ran ground straight to the battery and still got the noise. I then tried running both ground and ignition(red wire) to the battery and same thing again.

My dad said that maybe it was the MSD 6AL Controller that was causing the problem, but I don't know. I'll check later. What do you guys think? Really appreciate it. Sorry for the long thread. smile.gif

[JoshMcMadMac]

You may want to check your amp. First, what type is it? If it is a "cheap" amp, that can happen with poor components, and you might blow it soon. Also check your filter setting on the amp, it may be set improperly. Third, check the gain on the amp, make sure you aren't trying to run the amp overtime.

Another possibility is that the amp is drawing too much from the battery and causing your problem. What gauge wire are you running to this amp? Maybe try running the amp power from a seperate battery and see what happens. Hope this helps, throw some more ideas back and we can see what we can figure out.

[ekooke]

There's a copper ground strap at the back of the engine to the firewall. Clean & tight connections there may help.

[PB_Halcyon]

buzzing? Try to explain the buzzing or associate it with something that sounds similiar. Alternator noise will whine, Gains will hiss, your ignition should either click or whine. EMI will only occur when a motor is running or a door lock acctuating. The only time I've heard something buzzing, something was shorted. It was very loud and nasty but didn't blow the fuse.

[Capt. Zilog]

If you run any pre-amped RCA lines by any higher power lines, you'll get alternator whine. Is it a high pitched EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE sound?

[Bluegrass]

You got that right!
Look at where the ignition coil is at. All kinds of cable and harness run over and around it.

[302markVII]

Actually I have a Blaster II Coil and I put a small bracket on to the alternator bracket so it's right in front of the Distributor now. I hope that's not a big NO NO or something.

I'm going to try some of the stuff you guys mentioned. Actually I'm running the RCA's under the carpet where the other cables also run through. I even opened the brackets that hold the cables together and neatly placed the RCAs through there. Maybe that's causing the problem. I'm using very thick "Monster Cables" with gold plated connections.

Oh yes, I meant that "EEEEEEEEEEE" sound I'm just not very good at describing sounds.

I hope it's not the RCAs because that's the only place I could think of running them through. They're very thick.

I have a Jensen amp. I'm not sure if that's a cheap amp or not but it seems to always work fine.

Thanks for all your help guys I'll get back to you on that. I don't know what I would do without this board. smile.gif

[PB_Halcyon]

before you rip it all apart try 2 things. First try pulling the rca's out so that only the center conductor is making contact. then start her up and test for the whining. Second, with the rca's back in, take a piece of wire and touch from both the rca's outer ring to metal. Test again. If there's no difference, disconnect the changer and amp.See if it does it with only the HU running.

[Capt. Zilog]

Thickness doesn't really matter, and there really isn't much you can do in the way of shielding either. If you notice you have a power line crossing by an RCA, what you should do is first see if you can easily move one of them to the other side of the car (I rerouted all of my power to go from the drivers side in, and the RCA's to go from the passenger's side in.) If not, you have to make them cross at exactly 90* perpendicular. That will allow the RCA signal to be unharmed by the higer current (therefore more powerful magnetic field, therefore induced current) line.

I actually had a problem where my crossover was touching the car body metal and that created the whine. Try mounting everything using neoprene/urethane/plastic grommets to isolate extraneous grounds (if there is a potential difference in grounds, it can cause problems).

[Desert Stallion]

Could also try installing a ground loop filter, but that's generally only a problem if you're running multiple amps.

My RCA's are run down the passenger side of the car and all of the 12 volt lines are run down the driver's side, but I still had to install ground loop isolators because I have 3 amps, even though they each have their own power supply.

[302markVII]

Today I rewired the whole thing. I printed out the wiring diagrams and wired everything and double checked it. Guess what I heard. "EEEEEEEEEEEE" I even checked to see that the wires were properly marked on the harness and concurred with the wires from the Mark. According to the diagram it all was correct and properly aligned.

I did what PB said and disconnected the RCA's(which have filters by the way) and the sound got even worse. I then disconnected the CD Changer and same thing. So it must be coming from somewhere else. But WHERE?

I'm going to try what Josh had suggested about connecting the amp to a separate battery. But I'm really stumped.

Could it be possible that the MSD components in some way are causing the problem? I do have the 6AL controller, the Blaster II coil and the MSD Distributor.

Oh I forgot to mention my amp is a JBL (not the stock one) not a Jensen as I had previously posted. Could it be that perhaps the stereo itself is the problem? :confused:

I haven't rerouted the RCA's yet but hope to do that tomorrow. Though now I doubt that's the problem. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks Mark VII brethren.
smile.gif

[ December 04, 2003: Message edited by: 302markVII ]

[Capt. Zilog]

There's not really any way the MSD would interfere without you running the RCA's by it. Try making sure the amp is not touching ANY car body metal. Don't screw it down, and rest it temporarily on something so that it won't touch the trunk.

[302markVII]

Hey Cap I'll try that. I didn't even think about that. I have the amp bolted on in the package tray between the two rear speakers in the trunk.

Though it was not touching metal the way I had it mounted before. It was screwed on to the side paneling inside the trunk which is made of a cardboard like material.

I'll keep you guys updated. Thanx smile.gif

[302markVII]

I had an extra battery laying around(brand new too) and so I wired the amp ground and power to it. I did this to see if I still got that "EEEEEEEEE" sound.

But when I tried starting the car it only made that grinding noise it makes when there's not enough power to crank. So now I'm having my car battery charging at Auto Zone, and am currently using the spare. So I'll keep you guys updated.

[Capt. Zilog]

That wasn't a great idea. Not to nitpick or seem like an ass, but you know that thin cable that comes from the head unit? That is 12V @ 0.3A, and needs a proper ground. One thing before we keep going, are you powering your speakers via an aftermarket amplifier, or via the standard JBL system, or via the head unit's amplifier?

[302markVII]

I'm using an aftermarket JBL 4 channel amp to power the speakers. The amp has RCA inputs for rear and front so I'm running the two RCA's through the floor with the rest of the wiring (one through the passenger side and the other through the driver side). The head unit also has two RCA inputs so I connected two filters there and connected the two RCA's running from the amp to them. But the whinning is still present.

After disconnecting the RCA's completely the whinning worsened. I proceeded to disconnect the RCA's coming from the changer in the back and it still whinned. At this point only the head unit was connected and it whinned so what does this mean?

All the amp connections are properly connected(I used the wiring diagram for an 89 Mark, which is what mine is). At the head unit I have a harness but double checked with the wiring diagram to see that it was correct and everything was properly aligned.

I'm stumped. Did I mess up somewhere? I've double checked it and I cannot find the problem.

I got my battery back from Auto Zone, actually I got a new one the other one doesn't hold a charge anymore. :(

[Capt. Zilog]

There's a grounding problem in the amp. Did you sand down the area you attached the ground to?

[88MK7Man]

believe it or not the type of RCA cables you use WILL effect how much noise you have, cheap walmart RCA's are likely to soak in surrounding noise, spend more money for some good phoenix gold or Fosgate cables, I had noise in my system that disappeared when I disconnected the rca's which indicated it was coming from the head unit, however no matter what I did I could not get rid of it so I installed some PAC noise filters inline with the RCA's and it ELIMINATED the noise completely, if you have it with RCA's disconnected sounds like you have a ground loop on your amp or a crappy power supply in the amp, do not mount the amp to anything metal, make sure the ground cable from the amp is no longer than 18" and is the same guage as the power wire, also made sure the ground wire is secured good to a good ground, don't trust a self tapping bolt into the metal, use a good nut and bolt to make sure its tight, scrape any paint away from the area before you attach the ground.

[Michael VII LSC/SE]

Is this with the motor not started and running? If engine is running do you get a frequency change in the noise and different RPMs. Does the noise increase with the volume control up and down? Is the noise more of a Harommmmmmmmmm. Did you disconnect the battery during the install? If not did you get any sparking? Are you using original speaker leads and did you use harness adapters and amp bypasses?

Try running a power lead direct to power with nothing in the car operating, if you still have the feed-back or noise I would check grounds and search wiring for shorts.

Do you have a condensor or noise suppressor on the coil?

[ December 04, 2003: Message edited by: Michael VII LSC/SE ]

[302markVII]

Yeah it does change frequency when I push on the pedal. It only occurs when the car is on. Also I am running filters to the RCA's. I disconnected them and the charger from behind the head unit and still got the noise.

Also when I step on the pedal or the turn signals are on I can hear a clicking sound.

I'm using all the stock wiring. I used the wiring diagram to do it so I'm almost absolutely sure its correct.

Although the amp is mounted to the package tray between the two rear speakers(in other words its mounted to metal) The only thing is that before I rewired it was not mounted to metal. So I'm not sure that would be the problem.

I've tried using the stock grounds that run to the amp in the back and also the tried grounding it to the frame but same result.

As for the coil. I'm not sure what a condensor or noise supressor is but I don't think I have one connected to the coil.

[ December 04, 2003: Message edited by: 302markVII ]

[Michael VII LSC/SE]

I don't know if this works on some of the systems I think I hear about but I know the condensor can go bad and need replacing. I seem to remember a condensor on mine on the regulator. My manual calls it a capacitor. #18801, mounted above the regulator.

If you have a motor boat noise on the FM with the engine on, check to see that spark plug wires are suppressor type and plugs are resistor type. Check the carbon center insert in distributor cap is secure. Check cap and rotor electrodes for silicone grease on EEC-IV vehicles otherwise no grease.
Noise suppression components may be malfunctioning or missing. Check bond strap ground for efectiveness. This ground strap appears to be attached to the driver's side head on the firewall face to the firewall.

[ December 04, 2003: Message edited by: Michael VII LSC/SE ]

[pepsi2185]

well 302 you gotta love alternator whine. I have some questions and solutions.

Are you running an aftermarket radio, i assume yes.

What size is the wire and what size is the amplifier.

You have an 89 lsc right? When you ran the wires from the amplifier to the speakers, did you pick up the harness behind the dash? or did you run the wires to each speaker.

If you ran the wire to the stock harness in the dash, i assume you bypassed the aftermarket amplifier.

Are you running a capacitor to the amplifier?

As far as the connections, make SURE you ran the RCS's down the opposite side of the vehicle of the power wire.

Check every ground connection from your ignition, amp, to the radio.

The accessory click pop noise is cause from surge currents on the circuit. You may need to rerun the power wires for the radio, but im very curious what is your head unit. If your using factory systems this can cause trouble and if your using a cheap head unit.

The ignition coil may give you a little trouble, since it generates such a high voltage AC signal which is the cause of alternator whine. One way to help alternator whine is to put a large capacitor on the power wire after the battery.

Another way to trouble shoot the problem is to try your head unit connected in another vehicle to test it, then work step by step from there. run one speaker at a time testing for whine as you go. Connect on speaker from the radio, then connect that speaker to the amp and test it with rca connections. You have to narrow down where the problem is coming from. Cause chances are its one of the smallest problems you will ever come across. Ive dealt with many similar situations. Sorry about the long post, but keep us posted and let us know what you headunit is, and a model number please.

Big Joe

[302markVII]

I have an 89 MarkVII LSC mildly modified.

I'm using a Sony Xplode head unit which came with a CD Changer and its wires. The amp is an aftermarket JBL 4 channel.

Since I used all the stock wiring it's all the same gauge.

I DID pick up the harness from behind the dash.

I did not bypass the amp because I removed the stock one and used it's wiring to wire the aftermarket one (using the wiring diagram of course) It was actually quite easy. AND since I did it this I did not need to run any wires to the speakers since they were already wired to the stock set up.

I'm not sure what a capacitor is but I don't think I'm running one to the amp.

I'm running the RCA's one on each side (passenger and driver). I'm not sure on which side of the MarkVII power runs through if not both.

Now that I think of it; I had the whine before I installed the MSD components. So maybe that's not it either.

Wow I don't know what I would do without this board. Thanx ;)

[Capt. Zilog]

A capacitor is just 2 pieces of metal, sandwiching a non-conductive material like glass, wrapped up like a breakfast burrito into a cylinder. The capacitence is measured in a unit called the Farad. Capacitence is just the amount of charge stored at a certain voltage, 1 Farad = 1 Coloumb @ 1 Volt, that's actually a lot of current believe it or not. In a DC circuit (like a straight battery) it forms a "battery" of sorts as - charge is attracted to one side and + to the other, as they get attracted to each other on either side of the gap. They "charge up" and you can pull the current from them like a battery. However, in an alternating current environment, like your charging system (it alternates, believe me), when placed in series with a power line, it forms a filter. The capacitor smooths out the ripples in the current and makes it more of a DC circuit. Open up a rectifier-style power supply sometime (some computers have these) and look at all the capacitors. That's what they (mostly) do, because a computer needs very reliable signals.

Anyhow, the type of capacitor you would put in your car depends on what you want to do. You can put a huge 1 Farad capacitor in there to hang on to some extra current for a really loud part in a song, then it will be charged back up during a quieter part. Or you can put in smaller ones as line filters to smooth out the current coming in. One last thing you can do is use them to make crossovers and pass filters. If you want to know more, just ask and I'll tell you more.

[302markVII]

Wow thanx guys. You guys were great help but you'll never believe what happened to me.

A guy ran a red light and hit my car in the rear driver's side quarter panel. Crushed it in and folded the rear passenger side quarter panel over. I think it has chassis damage. So you know what that means. Total loss. But we'll see tomorrow.

He was coming pretty fast and I just happened to glance over and see him so I stepped on it and swerved from the left lane to the right trying to avoid the inevitable. If I had stepped on the brakes or not seen him coming he would have hit me on the driver's side door and surely have killed or badly injured me. For a split second I thought I had made it but then it happened. My car spun around and turned off. I couldn't turn it back on, don't really know why. Had it towed home.

I'll keep you updated. :(

[ December 06, 2003: Message edited by: 302markVII ]

[Michael VII LSC/SE]

:( Glad you're OK. You just out-lined two of my criteria on the purchase of my Lincoln, Besides it's great looks and style.

How are the aches?

The fuel cut-off switch (got to figure where that is?) probably kicked and needs to be reset.

"The inertia switch is locatted on the LH side of the luggage compartment behinde the trim panel mounted on the outboard side of a vertical metal surface."

Looks like a reset button on it's top and located near the air suspension switch.

Good Luck!

[Jon90LSC]

Glad you were able to type that post to us. Are you OK?

I think Mike was right on about the inertia switch. It should be a red round button by the Air Suspension switch.

On the bright side, this should take care of the stereo trouble :D

[302markVII]

quote:On the bright side, this should take care of the stereo trouble

Lol that's the first thing I thought about after the crash. You guys are right, the good thing is that I'm ok. Maybe it's still repairable. I'll use the extra money for some good heads and a new paint job. Maybe even cool rims. :D

I'll try looking for that switch. Thanks. I'll try to post pictures as soon as I figure out how.