Whining Radio...what's the secret fix?

[Armond]

Ground is attached to the heater. Power is hooked up to the Acc.

[cowlum]

Its always the ground when the pitch changes with the engine (is it not?)

[Mars]

If you are referring to engine noise in your radio's speakers the most obvious cause would be ground.

But, 02's fitted with radios by dealers back then installed a 'radio kit' to prevent such a thing. It included a ground strap on the hood to nose and noise suppressors in either the alternator and/or coil.

Get thyself at least one noise suppressor on your alternator and check your grounds. That'll take care of the problem.

Cheers.

[Beaner7102]

When you say its grounded to the heater - I assume you mean one of the 2 bolts that hold the heaterbox in place??? If not use one of them.

Also old style copper plug leads can cause interferance, but I doubt you would have those. Beaner7102

[ray_]

Turn it off and listen to the motor.

;-p

Cheers,

Ray

Ground is attached to the heater. Power is hooked up to the Acc.

[Armond]

Turn it off and listen to the motor.

;-p

Cheers,

Ray

Ground is attached to the heater. Power is hooked up to the Acc.

I can hear the wind more than the motor espcially at 80MPH. I just play Dave Matthews band and enjoy the drive. But the whining noise is killing me

[ray_]

Earbuds.

;-p

Turn it off and listen to the motor.

;-p

Cheers,

Ray

Ground is attached to the heater. Power is hooked up to the Acc.

I can hear the wind more than the motor espcially at 80MPH. I just play Dave Matthews band and enjoy the drive. But the whining noise is killing me

[2002john]

Go to radio shack and get audio transformer

[Armond]

Go to radio shack and get audio transformer

My deck is fairly new. I wonder if has an internal noise supressor and failed. I'll check on that Audio Xfmr.

[Benz02]

Me thinks you need some kind of noise supressor.

Maybe one of these?

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-lJzCMu3HKZb/cgi-bin/ProdGroup.asp?g=890&avf=N

[DanOKC]

Likely alternator noise from bad power or ground lead to the radio, could maybe be ignition noise also. Also make sure power lead to radio isn't excessive length, or running next to ignition power source under hood wiring, stuff like that. New car stereos shouldn't have need for any filters, with good wiring, but if it fixes it, use em.

[H_Krix]

Noise supressors are nothing more than a patch. They don't fx the problem.

Change your ground, and run a constant power wire up to the fusebox.

The ACC wire off the ignition (Purple w/White?) works well for acc. Make sure you have a 10a fuse in-line on ACC (red) and 15a on constant (Yellow)

If you have a Power Antenna or Amp turn-on wire (Blue, Blue w/ White) make sure to cap it off.

If you're running an amplifier, run the RCA leads down the passenger side of the car, away from the transmission and main wiring harness. Give the amp its own seperate ground.

If you're running speaker wire to the rear of the car, route it along the passenger side as well, away from the transmission and main harness.

Thats all I can think of right now, but pics of the install, or specific component listing, may help.

[Mike Self]

my radio whines too, but only on AM--FM is fine. The radio is properly grounded (separate wire) as is the alternator, but the hash is so bad on AM only the strongest stations are audible. And yes, the whine pitch varies with engine speed, so I would suspect the alternator. Is that right?

Many years ago one would attach a capacitator to a generator's + terminal, but I'm not sure what terminal to use on an alternator...or if there's another fix. We have a good but weak oldies station here on AM and I miss listening to it...

mike

[Mars]

Mike S,

As I mentioned above Ground is the most likely cause. Another poster just added to the ground issue as well and not to worry so much about noise suppressors.

But, noise suppressors do help in your case where the ground(s) are solid. Email me. I can help you with hooking it up, etc. I can show you where to hook it up on the alternator but you can also hook it up at the 12v coil.

Armond, Same for you as well.

[Armond]

Mars. E-mail sent via forum. Thanks