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Hey all, I went through a bunch of crap recently and I think my audio upgrades caused all this although I can't prove it. I've been through two (2) Alternators, a battery, a fuse box, and all sorts of diagnostics over the last six months from a local machanic trying to figure out why my car kept dying! What a hassle!

Has anyone else ever had issues with Alternators with a nice system? I mean, tons of people have nice systems in their cars and never have issues! Why me??

I HAD two (2) 12" Pioneer Premere Subs and a 1600Watt 4-channel Amp using a 4 guage power wire from the battery. Two of the channels on my amp went to my Subs (bridged) and the other two for the front speakers. It all worked fine for about six months then my car started to act goofy. That's when all the problems surfaced and I've been through a lot of expense lately. I tore out all my audio and said "That's it!" I'm done with upgrades unless someone can tell me how I can run a good system in my Civic without destroying my car, especially my Alternator! I am not going through this again.

If you haven't experienced any issues yet then you have been lucky I guess, or have a better setup than I had. I just don't think my battery (stock) and Alternator could handle the draw.

Any ideas what I can do so I won't fry stuff again? I'd hate to sell my Subs because they are awesome and I miss my audio.

 
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i dont think it was the adio if you burnt throught two Alts.. i think its a bad ground from the alt or a bad belt/pully connected to the alt

then again i know crap when it comes to ICE

it may be you Amp with a bad ground for all i know

 
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Yea, hard to really say but my amp's ground did work loose one time and come to think of it, I wonder if that started the whole thing? All it did at first was shut down my amp but when I reattached everything it all worked fine. I can't remember if the first Alternator went after that or not. Hmmmm... It could have caused something to go flaky, like a sensor or something. I was getting ELD sensor problems which they had to replace my fusebox! A new battery, and now I am on my third Alternator.

I am paranoid to hook anything up again to my battery as you can imagine.

 
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first thing I would suggest is replace your battery with a optima yellow or a heavier duty battery. Also possibly upgrade your alternator to see if that cures the problem. it justs seems like that is the main problem. Too much audio for the stock components to handle.

Also, try taking your car to an good car audio shop and see what they say. My last job would always send cars to a local car audio shop when cars came in with problems due to there system. they did bad *** work. or try taking it to a shop that deals only with car electrical issues. there should be one in your area. And you shouldnt be spending any more money then what you have. If the shop tells you whats wrong, fixes it and charges you, and it doesnt fix the problem, you shouldnt have to keep paying for them to start throwing parts at it.

 
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yeah definatly try upgrading you alternator to one that has a higher amperage rating.

 
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And what kind fits our cars and how much??

 
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bump?

 
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what kind of system are you running to burn out alternators? Alot of people here have some 1000wrms+ on the stock electrical system. HO alternaotr is usually a bad idea because it robs more hp than normal. You shouldn't even need to do that. I had 2 subs and two amps for about a year at least and I was fine. Yea mine broke too after 3 years, but prolly just a random failure.

 
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I would say its almost certainly not your system causing the problem... that's really a lot of power and shouldnt be enough to ruin your alt... look elsewhere...

 
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Normally, I'd say it's the alternator.. I burned up my stock alternator, had it rebuilt to 90 amps, burned that one up.. now I have an Ohio Generator which I've had for quite some time now and no problems.
But since you said you went through your fuse box among other things, I think you have another electrical issue with your car.

 
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why did you replace the fuse box anyways?

 
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They replaced the fuse box because the ELD sensor was faulty they claimed. You don't have to replace the whole fuse box I found out but they were able to get one out of another car for the same price as just replacing the ELD sensor. So I don't know if my alternator caused other issues or what. Now I currently have my third alternator in there and so far it's ok but I do not have any audio hooked up. I do not want to chance putting any draw on my battery or alternator again. I can't afford to keep having it in the shop. I am going back to just my radio hooked up to four speakers, front and rears, no amp or sub. Not worth all the hassles.

 
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the ac and windows takes more power than the stereo, if you keep it relatively stock. An aftermarket deck and small speaker amp wouldn't hurt it. And even if you have a big system and the alt can't supply power, it then takes it from the battery. Eventually the battery would drain, but I can't see how the alternator would be affected by that.

 
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Yea, plenty of people have nice systems and I just can't understand why I had so much bad luck about six months after installing all mine. I did everything right and the only thing I can think of is my ground from my amp (bolted through the trunk body) worked its way loose one time (from the terminator) and this might have caused some faults in my ELD or screwed up my alternator, who knows.

I really miss my audio and I drive around all day long for my job so it's real difficult not even having a radio at the moment but I am so paranoid to hook anything up from my battery again. Maybe my current amp just isn't any good or draws too much power. It's a 1600 Watt, four channel Legacy. Not the best amp in the world by all means but again, it did just fine for six months until things started acting goofy with my car.

My friend has a nice system too and he even has a cap and his alternator just went last week also. He drives an American made car. I think over time the drains on the battery and alternator just takes it's toll, who knows.

I may go to one of these custom car shops in my area and see what they say. I think I need some expert advice on all this. I am not happy with my current system anyway. I have a nice head unit and the subs are awesome but there is no mid-range. My little Panasonic fronts are crap. I need four speakers and maybe just one 10" sub. That would do me just fine. I will get a quote on them installing everything and maybe get some type of warranty that way, who knows. I just don't trust myself anymore.

I'm sure I can find a place to connect all my gear and do it right if I purchased all the stuff.

 
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this is just a guess, but maybe if the stereo is using the battery all the time, the alternator is constantly working to replenish it and eventually burns itself out. thats kinda what the mechanic said when my alt went out with the aem underdrive pulley on it. so now i'm using stock pulley. but its all guesses. also fyi, the eld turns the alt off at times when its not needed. the eld DOES NOT see the stereo system because of the way its wired.

 
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hey everyone i'm new to this so I apalogize for my obvious lack of knowledge. Ok but i went to get a deck i baught a while ago installed into my new 2004 civic, and apparently because the deck has a high amp rating it was taking too much power and fried my whole electrical system and cost me 2 grand. Does anyone have an idea how that happened or how to get a deck to work?

 
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How many amps was your deck rated at? I never heard of a head unit causing too much draw but I'm no expert either. Usually your amp and big subs are what causes the drains I heard.

Sorry to hear about your 2 grand loss. I know the feeling. This car has cost me thousands! Between the audio mishaps and now my transmission, I think this is the worse car I ever owned.... seriously.

 
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gearbox... i have stock alt and bat. i am running 1600rms amp and 60x4 rms 1frd cap....i hve aem power pulley u think i will hve same problem ?
i am think about to change uthodox crank pulley?? would that make any diff ?

 
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damn you're gonna have serious problems. aem doesn't even recommend running any system with the pulley. My mechanic was 99% sure the pulley didi it, and I didn't even have a big system. Give it a year, and you'll be walking home one day. Crank pulley will ruin your engine.

 
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holly s*it.....spend 250 to get them installd now pay 250.00 get them off....damn...
150. parts....and 175.00 crank pulley panding....


and how about if put better battery,Alt and keep aem pulleys...would be a problem then??

 
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ya the pulley causes the alternator to work non stop to charge the battery (because the pulley will underdrive it. He said it just burned up eventually. Leave the PS pulley on, just put the stock alternator back. Bigger battery won't help that much. I had single amp 25wx4 and it still died.

 
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alright when i put my bigger alt i wont put that aem alt pulley....i should get it with week or 2...

 
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cool

 
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LOL, you guys are a trip. I'm done messing around with my car. It's not worth the cost and aggravation anymore. If I had it to do all over, I would have kept everything stock, including audio. But no, I had to find this site and I got hooked. It's funny when we look back on life and all the silly things we do.

Have fun gang. It's only money right?

 
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Yea, I think I realized I got a lemon early on but it's like one of those love-hate relationships. I keep spending money on an old hag but can't affort anything else at the moment. LOL

 
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what is the factory alternator wattage output?

 
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is anyone using a compacitor(s) with their system and have had this issue.

 
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this thread is long since dead. if you have new questions please make a new post as per the rules posted in this forum.