This problem started this spring and has continuously gotten worse. I have a 2004 civic ex coupe. I run 2 kicker amps, one 750 watt mono and one 650 watt 4 channel. At first when I drove over 50 mph sometimes the 4 channel amp would go into protection mode and would only come back when I brought the car under 50. Over time this started to get worse. I then noticed it starting to happen under 50 as well but still intermitent. Now, more often then not, It will happen as soon as I press the gas pedal and will come back when I come to a stop. Also, I noticed that the headlights will flicker and dim rythmically even when the stereo is turned off, this coinsides with the amp turning off. When the amp turns off the lights flicker and vice versa. I already switched out the amp and changed the ground. Autozone tested the alternator and it passed. One odd thing I noticed is that most mornings, when i drive into work, The amp and lights work fine. but thats the only time.

 

Your pulling to many amps for your alternator. Get a high output alternator.

 

How does that explain the lights flickering when the stereo is off?

 

do these cars have a voltage regulator of some sort? i have seen similiar issues on other cars when the volt regulator starts to go bad

 

This happenend in my ex gf's 2000 civic coupe. While driving at night, you could also notice the cluster lights and illumination on the a/c controls flicker and get extremely bright. Have u noticed any strange smells? We noticed kind of a rotten egg smell... Anyway, we had the alternator rebuilt, and that fixed all of her electrical issues.

 

look into replacing the battery with a higher stoarge batt, or maybe an extra storage cell or capacitor.

 

alternator

 

alternator maybe going bad.

 

This happened to me when I had a system. It eventually made my alternator go bad. I got a capacitor with the same system and amp after the new alternator and never had anymore problems. The capacitor ran me $70 at the time 1/2 Farad. Some people claim they don't work but my experience showed different results than their mouths.

 

Sure sounds like a current issue, because there is a problem with the amps off, check your main grounds, batt., batt. to chassis and chassis to engine.

Remove all 3 ground "points" clean both contact surfaces and reconnect, making sure the connections are tight.

Have you added an extra batt. to chassis ground for the extra current the amps will draw?

A 4ga from the batt. neg.(-) to the cars chassis.

Where and how are the amps grounded.

How long are the amps ground leads?

What gauge power and ground cable are you using? 94