Just another part of the sad saga

Posted by: edsmiata

Just another part of the sad saga - 22/06/2005 10:20

As you may or may not remember...my installation has been plagued with ignition whine basically forever....recently i rewired everything and it seemed to be working noise free!

However, now more frequently than not...the noise returns but much louder, as if the ground wire had come off....this is not the case, but i notice that when i jostle the empeg in its sled i am able to find a 'sweet spot' where the noise diappears again...as i keep driving the noise fades in and out and sounds like a dentist drill, varying with the rpm of the engine and turning on and off as the 'sweet spot' is found and lost.

common sense tells me that the problem lies within the player itslef or the connector harness attached to the player (the sled had been replaced with a brand new one and all of those connectors are good)

anybody out ther experience a similar situation or have any ideas on how to go about fixing this?

thanks

ed
Posted by: schofiel

Re: Just another part of the sad saga - 22/06/2005 12:07

Remove the roll-off caps in the player?

Depends on your player version and whether they are fitted. It is also not guaranteed to work - however, I started doing it as standard on repair players and I had a significant number of surprised responses from owners saying "the alternator noise has gone!" including on the most troublesome of cars to put a player in, a BMW.
Posted by: edsmiata

Re: Just another part of the sad saga - 22/06/2005 12:15

I have the latest version, which i think is the MK IIa...

please let me know what the 'rolloff' caps are and how i may do that.

interesting that you note the BMW as i heard some of them have the battery in the trunks, which is where the battery is for the miata...i wonder if that is the common problem?

let me know!

thanks

ed
Posted by: Glen_L

Re: Just another part of the sad saga - 22/06/2005 13:18

FAQ Linky. It looks like you don't have rolloff caps in your Mk2a.
Posted by: tfabris

Re: Just another part of the sad saga - 22/06/2005 14:04

Quote:
common sense tells me that the problem lies within the player itslef or the connector harness attached to the player

Agreed. Open the player and reseat the inner connecting wires for the docking connector assembly. Look for loose solder joints or other such things.

Also look for problems with the docking connector contacts themselves, such as crud on the contact points.
Posted by: edsmiata

Re: Just another part of the sad saga - 23/06/2005 15:00

welll very strange..im telling ya..this install should be a poster child for futility...

i opened the case and checked all of the wires and all seem pretty sturdy...checked the contact on the harness and seems just as solid

but...

last night i did notice that this only happens after the player has been on for a while and the unit has a chance to heat up..and as the dash of the miata is quite tight...and it is sitting right on top of my clarion head unit..it is QUITE hot to the touch

at this point in time i am able to shimmy the unit in the sled until i pin point the sweet spot where all is quiet

but thee is more!

as this is all happening i noticed that one of the channels dies out on me..so i kinda jostle the unit in the sled (finding it difficult to find proper adjectives)and the dead channel kicks in, independant of the presence of noise or what...

for the record..i had the header cable replaced to the HD's and had the contacts resoldered by Stu at Eutronics (very satisfying process by the way)

so there you have it

it seems the best way to trouble shoot this is to finde somebody with another empeg (read:Paul G!) and see if the problem resurfaces.

other than that an i-pod seems to be the safest solution...

any suggestions?

thanks,

Ed
Posted by: pgrzelak

Re: Just another part of the sad saga - 23/06/2005 15:08

You rang?

Last time we tried this, there was no noise from either player. But then, neither had been on for a while.

Perhaps the best way to test the theory is that I loan you a player for a while - let you drive with it for a while and see what kind of results you get.

PM or email me. Time to at least eliminate one of the variables.
Posted by: edsmiata

Re: Just another part of the sad saga - 23/06/2005 15:27

it may have seemed like i was fishing...well..yes actually i was fishing!

thanks for your kind offer....let me send u a pm and go from there!

thanks paul!

Ed
Posted by: jmwking

Re: Just another part of the sad saga - 24/06/2005 10:56

Hmm... Getting to borrow one of the largest collections of music for a while.

Priceless!

Now if we start seeing requests on the most effecient way to "back up" music from an empeg...

-jk
Posted by: pgrzelak

Re: Just another part of the sad saga - 24/06/2005 11:49

Hahahahahaha. Hadn't thought about it quite that way, but, uh, yeah...
Posted by: edsmiata

Re: Just another part of the sad saga - 24/06/2005 13:01

...already did it!!!!
Posted by: CFinch106

Re: Just another part of the sad saga - 03/07/2005 07:12

I'm getting the dead channel problem as well, it'll kind of sound like static, then the right side of the car will go dead, and only the back left will have volume very low, then it'll pop back in for a while.
Posted by: schofiel

Re: Just another part of the sad saga - 04/07/2005 04:48

Bad connections in wiring harness/sled connector.