ok first of all, this is with a plymouth pt cruiser, but i didn't want to spend 4 hours on the internet hunting down another forum.

the hu is one of those kenwood OEL display things. some cheap amp powering the interior speakers (kenwood components)

the clicking is on am radio only, and only when the motor is running. everything appears to be hooked up correctly. the amp is under the passenger seat, grounded to the metal floor under the passenger side carpet. the power cable runs to a fuse block under the dash on the driver's side, both fuses are in, but cable is only run to the one amp in the car. on fm and cd, everything sounds fine other than a little bit of whine, but that doesn't concern me (it's my neighbor's car and she's 70 years old, AM is all she listens to)

the clicking is very fast and seems to keep pace with the injectors. any ideas?

oh and no i didn't install this, nor did she have it done. she bought the car used.

 

You could have a number of problems...

1. RCA's could be ran to close to the power wire.
2. Amp could be screwed into the metal of the floor that would cause it
3. Your ground may not be to great
4. The gains on the amp may be turned up to high
5. The radio may not be grounded properly

You just basicly have to start testing and eliminate possablitlies untill you find what causing it then correct the problem.

 

i think the amp itself is just chilling on carpet, not screwed in. the ground on the other side (the sub that i removed) seemed pretty good, so i'm figuring this side should be ok too? you really think RCAs next to power wire would cause this on AM only? i am starting to lean towards HU grounding...i'll have to go back in and investigate. any more theories?

 

Well you said there was a little bit of whine still on the other sources. I would try regrounding the radio mabey even try runing a wire to connect the grounds from the amp and deck or try grounding the attena. I have heard bad spark plug wires can cause am whine but I have never witnessed it.

 

i've heard the spark plug theory too. i'm trying to get all my ducks in a row so i only have to take it apart once. are you suggesting connect the amp and hu ground together? i've never seen that before...

 

Ign. noise only on AM radio is an indication of a grounding problem with the cars ant. to check unplug the ant. from back of HU, if noise goes away, first thing to check for is does the HU still work, [will a CD play] if so, HU is grounded properly, if not, reground HU. The next thing to check is the ant. ground it should be grounded at it's base and can be checked at the plug that goes into radio, also if it's a 02 or later model check the ant. adapter. 94

 

sounds good, thanks. that makes sense. i'll try it and report back.

 

a friend of mine had a race ignition system, and had absolutely no radio reception. changed the ignition system back to stock, had radio again lmao. i wonder if it effected the cars around him as well

 

lol you know i've always wondered if people with fm modulators affect the reception of people around them? once in a tunnel i could swear i was listening to the music of the guy in the lane next to me.