So..my apologies ahead of time for being a audio noob. So here is my problem.

Car:93 prelude vtec.
Radio-plain jane aiwa cd mp3 player(i know not greatest, but came with car and just havent changed it yet.)
Amp-audiobahn 2 channel. 400t series.
So im adding a 3 way focal system to my car, and therefore also adding a 2 channel amp.
After everything is wired up, i obviously go to turn on the radio, and...nothing.
The amp when i put the head unit on radio mode the amp flickers on for a brief second and then off, and by this i mean the amp itself lightsup the traditional audiobahn blue.

this install was a pain in the nuts and im just about beat, so figured id run this info for some ideas before i go chasing ghosts.

the headunit harness, has a power antenna wire, and a amp wire. but of course the car has a power antenna wire but not a amp wire. So i have the harness wire from the radio going into the stock car harness pin connector, and the amp wire going directly from the aftermarket radio harness to the amp. so whether that is my problem and not enough power im not sure. Ive read where people used the power antenna wire to feed the amp turn on wire, but..if i were to use the antenna power would that be hot all the time or just when radio is on.

 

Try taking the remote lead and connecting it to the amp's power lead. If the amp turns on and stays on the problem is in your hu and you will have to find a different const source to run the lead to. The power antenna I am pretty sure won't work, since it should only be hot when the power antenna is up. I think you can run it to the cig lighter power, and there is another wire back there you can use too? I think the ACC line possibly.
Somebody else will know for sure.

 

your amp will come on if you have your amp turn on connected to the power antenna but wont power on when you switch sources to say cd. just some how hook the amp turn on into some sort of switced source like the switched power for the deck.

 

As mrdeadman suggests, use a jumper wire from the amps power lead to the amps turn-on/remote lead, if amp turns on and stays on the problem is in the HU, move the amps remote lead to the 2nd ign. or acc. free pin in the under dash fuse box, or as mentioned connect it up along with the HUs acc. lead, [red].

With HUs that have both a power ant. lead and an amp control lead you can't use the power ant. lead to control the amp as the amp would only turn on when radio is on, not when playing CDs. 94

 

So yeah this is giving me a headache.

tryed the amp in a friends car and it turned on np...

put it back in my car, just hooked up the ground,power,and amp turn on. the amp turned on.

so hooked up the rca's and speaker wires....and nothing. unhooked the rca's and speaker wire, and wouldnt turn back on, tryed it a few times and it decided to turn back on with just the 3 wires connected. so tryed the rca's and speaker wire again, and it stayed turned on but no sound coming out the speakers.

so im not sure what a bad amp acts like on the fritz, so i guess im gonna take a volt meter today and try each speaker wire to make sure their flowing fine. then try the speakers by themselves make sure their working. if that all works, i guess ill try to beg for someone to loan me a amp to try. im kind of out of ideas.

 

i also ran a wire from the power slow on the amp to the turn on slot, and the amp just flickered on and off like before. i checked the headunite amp wire and it is putting out power to my test light. so guess that narrows that out. i also checked the ground by using test light against the power cable and the ground, and its lighting so the ground is good.

 

where did you ground your amp?? have you checked with a DMM how much voltage you have at the amp?

 

If the amp worked in your friends car then the problem is not the amp.

Try this, disconnect just the speakers, [leave the RCAs plugged in].

As asked, "where did you ground your amp"? 94

 

I would like to also say that I think it is a grounding issue..

 

Its grounded to the passenger seat bolt. I checked the ground cable with a test light, and it was fine, i even tryed to wiggle it and the light never had one bit of flicker. Ive gone through as much as i could to narrow out the problem.

1.Tested amp on friends car-works.(ran it for only about a min)
2.Tested ground against power wire with test light-Test light lit.
3.Plugged in only the Ground,Power,And amp turn on wire to amp- Amp lit up(this was after taking it out of friends car.)
4. Then turned off ignition and plugged in rca's-amp still lit up.
5. turned off inition and plugged in speaker wires(at this time only wires for left side of car)-No go on amp light.
6.unhooked speaker wires, and rcas, went to turn on power-amp doesnt light up.
7. Try it a few more time with just +,-,and amp turn on wire, and it eventually decided to light again.
8. Havent messed with it at all today, just left +.-.and amp turn on wire still connected-light is still constantly on.

Rca's only deliver signal-so i doubt that is makeing the amp not turn on.

Next step is to check electrical flow from end to end on the speaker wires.
If they work....i dont know, possibly something in the newly ran speaker wires grounding out...
But when i go to check flow, if they are grounding out then my volt meter will show that correct?

Thanks for the help so far. Electrical is not my strong point, so doing best i can.

 

First off a test light will tell you very little, only that you have continuity, not how good the continuity is.

By the sounds of it, at least your left speakers or speaker leads are shorted to ground or the pos.(+) and neg.(-) are shorted to each other, amp stayed on until you connected the left speaker(s) up.

Us a multimeter to test the speakers, set meter to continuity and check for continuity to ground, [cars chassis] there should be none

Set meter to impedance and check speaker impedance, should be around 2-4 ohms. 94