Conker's Bad Fur Day

mbdyer12

I was rolling down the street enjoying the tunes when I come to a stop. As soon as the light turns green, I take off a bit faster than everyone else does (as always). As soon as I start going, there's a loud pop and the sound cuts out. I assume that it's the protection circuitry on the amp. It scares me so I turn off the music for the time being.

Two days before this, I had re-run my rca's because I had been getting some alternator noise. This cured it so I was thrilled. I ensured nothing was pinched as well.

I'm pretty stumped by the whole incident myself. I checked the power and ground (shaved and sanded bare metal, a little more than I needed perhaps, but I was just venting my frustration). No visable problems as far as I could notice. So, I drive around a little more and 5 mins later when I start off from a light, it happens again. I turn off the head unit and turn it back on. The music works like nothing happened. The next light after that one, I start off slower... The music sort-of crackles and lowers in volume but keeps playing. I repeat this for another few stops and the same thing happens. Next, I removed my sub and its amp, maybe thinking its drawing too much current. I taped off each rca cable individually and made sure they wouldn't be touching anything or flying around, took out the power cable from the distrobution block and took out the ground cable. I drove around for a little bit after that, no problems. But of course, the freedom from stress was short lived and the problem reared its ugly head once again. The same symptoms kept occuring - quicker starts = cutting off of music completely - slower starts = dimming of music and slight crackling.

The thing is, this whole problem only started happening after I re-ran the RCA cables, but they're not pinched or anything, as I took extra precautions. Why would this only be happening when I start out? The amp isn't sliding around or anything, the power is secured, and the ground is 1 1/2" long so its not whipping around or anything. Everything is tightened down, all fuses are good still. Ideas?


Oh yeah. Conker's Bad Fur Day rocks. I just got it. Its the only thing saving me from throwing a brick through my monitor.

beenthere

Any chance the alternator belt is loose??? Just a SWAG but you'd be surprised some times when everything else checks out OK... You could also rig a volt meter up and check for voltage drop on quick starts. Could even be an internally shorted battery if you've done enough of those fast starts. Obviously it could be an internal amp connection or a component going South too, but I'd check all the essentials first.

neomagus00

i could envision two possible issues: first, something's up with the charging system (battery, alt, or the big 3), or second, something's up with your setup (duh).

perhaps try putting the car in neutral and revving it? if the music is still affected, then it's something to do with the engine and thus the charging system. if nothing happens, then maybe the problem is due to something you can't see moving around when you accelerate - perhaps the ground wire has a bare spot that is pushed closer to bare metal when you accelerate, causing badness. if the neutral thing doesn't indicate a charging system issue, try having a passenger watch your amp while you drive; im assuming here that the amp has protection lights on it, and maybe the passenger can see which one is lighting up when you accelerate, and this may shed some light on the problem...

MacLeod

Im not sure its a charging issue. If it were, wouldnt accelorating put out more juice and not less?

It sounds like it could be something in the connections of the power, ground or speaker wires. My thinking is that when you take off, pressure is released from something and it pinches one of your wires or something of the sort.

I had a similar problem once a long time ago. I had the groung run to the seat bolt in my truck and when I took off it rocked the seat enough that it mess with the contact of the ground wire and, bammo, protection mode! Simply tightening the seat down fixed everything.

Im sure yours isnt as simple a solution but it could be in the same ballpark.

Jstas

Um, check the connection at the battery, make sure that the power wire isn't loose in it's crimped end. Also, check your connections at the amplifier and back of the head unit. A wire could be seperating itself from a contact point. That would explain why it only does it when the car is jerking forward.

LittleCar_w/12s

honestly it sounds like when you put your new rca's in you may have made a bad connection worse up at your deck, perhaps pulling it out and pushing it bach in hurt a connection or two. Try having it on and moving the deck in and out to see if it starts happening. Seems like you ruled out the amp, etc.

-Jerry

mbdyer12

Sorry I dissapeared on ya and left this all open. I was on vacation. After looking all of it over, I found out that it was my fuse holder not being tightened down enough so the fuse was moving around. There were little burn marks around the outside of the fuse like it did it repeatedly and it didn't like it much. I tightened it down the rest of the way and it hasn't happened since.