I have been trying to fix a very bad case of alternator whine in my Miata for weeks. When I first had the Empeg installed, the whine was there - brought it back to the place that installed it - they couldn't find the problem, but it mysteriously disappeared. Now it's back, and louder than ever. I'm tired of bringing it back to the place that can't fix it.

Can anyone in the Bay area please help me? Lunch/dinner/etc. would be on me... I'll come to you!

I'm going batty!

- Thanx
- Jon

bad case of alternator whine in my Miata

That can be a tough one to solve. From what I have read, if you had a BMW it might well prove to be impossible.

Here's a question that I bet Rob Schofield can answer: Can you solve an alternator whine problem by changing to a different brand/style of alternator? Even though that sounds like a drastic solution, you can buy a rebuilt alternator for a Ford or Chevrolet for less than $100, and that beats spending whole weekends ripping the wires out of your car trying to fix the problem. There are a few pitfalls... you'd have to futz around with the mounting hardware; you'd probably have to change the connector on the wiring harness that plugs into the alternator; you'd want comparable pulley sizes so the alternator ran at about the same speed as the original and so that the standard drive belt would work...

Does the noise problem originate in the alternator itself, or does it have more to do with the way the wiring harnesses and grounds are laid out?

tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

Have you tried checking for loose wires behind the docking sleeve? Are the audio cables rubbing against some metal part of the car and getting grounded? Have you looked at the "common installation problems" FAQ?

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Tony Fabris

Oops. Think I spoke too soon. I read the faq and the pdf files. After moving the ground wire to another bolt, the noise seems to have disappeared...

Thanks!

- Jon

very curious here. what year do you have? i just got a brg special edition, and when i had my empeg installed this weekend at circuit city (i know, i know), i switched from going through my pioneer to a real amp. alpine, 90 x 2. btw, is this a decent amp?

there was alot of static and alternator whine. sometimes these things disappeared when i pushed the empeg into the dash. this makes me think that there is a loose ground or some wire that is exposed and coming in contact with metal somewhere. do my unused rca outs need to be taped over?

although i could have probably chosen somewhere better than circuit city, they have actually been pretty helpful. my dad took the car back yesterday, and they said they didn't think it was a grounding issue. don't know for sure if they actually repulled the sled and checked. they turned down the gain (i think it was this, but i know nothing about this type of stuff). that made a big difference although it is still faintly there. of course it gets worse at night with lights on.

one thing i was really worried about was that they would simply blame the empeg and wash their hands of it, much like others have reported. the installers seem to want to work with me on this one and reach a solution, which makes me feel as though maybe circuit city was not such a bad choice.

anyway, sorry for the long post. anyone have any ideas? i'd like to go back to them armed with some info. maybe i shoulda stuck with the pioneer:)

jeremy

12 gig, green...

So what about a lunch for tony now - he posted the FAQs

TeeMcBee
Got my Mk2! # 080000143

So what about a lunch for tony now - he posted the FAQs

Already done, at Woodside.

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Tony Fabris