unTuned

i just installed my new pioneer deck yesterday after living with my sony xplod that had a bad ground loop for i cant even remember how long. i had some help from some guys on here, mainly gearbox and dex (thanks), diagnosing the problem and thats basically what it was. now that i installed the new deck, i connected the ground wire to some more 14 gauge wire, then put a ring terminal, and connected it straight to a piece of steel on the car. it completely got rid of the ground loop (its a very high pitched whistle, almost like a fake turbo type sound that gets louder with music, and even louder with heat/ac being on, and goes higher and lower with your rpms).

i was driving my car yesterday and today and it made a HUGE difference in how the car drives as well. when you go to start off theres literally no bogging out like there was before, the response time is way better, and when you give throttle it pulls a lot better than before. its not a matter of it making your car faster or giving it more hp, it just lets it work way way more efficiently. if anyone else gets that problem, youll be surprised at how much better your car runs after fixing it. after just that alone, i think im going to do the whole diy vehicle grounding now too, see if it helps any more.

02BLKCIVIC

iTrader: (8)

I always get the "sound" when im on the AM radio.

ground loop still?

unTuned

most likely yeah, at first mine was just with am i think when i was listening to the hockey games, slowly it got worse and worse, then went to fm, then finally to when i even had cds in it. then it got louder and louder and worse and worse. its way better now.

how is your stereo grounded....black wire from the deck, to black wire on the honda piece?

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

its a must to NOT use the factory harness ground and power. they should write that into the install manual. my radio is crystal clear and also running a bigger power and ground makes the deck work so much better. you make much better use of its internal amp instead of starving it with the stock crap wire. those were only made for 10wrms max lol, for the stock paper junk speakers.

02BLKCIVIC

iTrader: (8)

yeah im just wired up normally, aftermarket deck etc...

unTuned

yea its pretty easy to fix. disconnect your two black wires (deck ground and honda harness ground). put a piece of tape over your honda ground wire because you wont be using it. connect another piece of wire to your deck ground, maybe something a little bigger like a strand of 14 gauge speaker wire and put a ring terminal on the end of it.

you know those 2 screws you unscrew your dash with? well they screw upwards into 2 of 4 holes thare placed on that piece of metal that are placed something like this if i remember right ---->>> 0 0 0 0

from the left to right, they use the 2nd and last holes. the 1st and 3rd holes are both empty so i put a nut/bolt through the first hole with my ring terminal attached to it. thats the easiest one to use because you can access it above for putting the bolt downward, and from underneath (through cigarette lighter opening) to hold the nut on. its the perfect place to use. you should do it before the sound gets worse. im not even kidding when i was driving with heat and music on, that whistle was so high it was deafening haha.

chavalo89

Hey, i went to a car radio place today and they had a look at my wiring, they said it's not good to run a separate power cable. Dunno why.
Also i wanna fuse my separate power cable, anyone know to what size it should be?

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

hes an idiot then lol. tell him i said that. i used 14 gauge wire, run straight to battery with 15 amp fuse. the wire size determines the fuse size. basically, you are using the fuse to protect the wiring and the deck from power surge. very rare but it happens i guess.