How to stop engine noise through speakers?
You can get rid of engine noise in a car stereo by changing its ground location. If it doesn’t work, you can use a ground loop isolator or inline noise suppressor to get rid of the engine noise through speakers.
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A shrilling/whining noise that gets louder as you press the gas— this is the telltale sign of engine/alternator noise in a car stereo. This usually happens when people install the aftermarket stereo in their cars and set up its electrical connections on bad ground.
Engine noise is a car stereo that can spoil the entire music experience and render the aftermarket installment useless. The good news is you can resolve this issue without going to a car audio technician.
In this post, we will share how to get rid of engine noise in a car stereo on your own without needing expensive maintenance and parts replacements.
What You Will Need to Follow this Guide
- A piece of a black ground wire
- A wire clipper
- A multimeter
- Glue/tap/crimp caps
- A ground loop isolator
There are two easy ways to get rid of engine noise in a car stereo.
Change the Stereo Ground Location
It is the simplest way to get rid of engine noise in a car stereo. Also, if it doesn’t work, you can undo it very easily and try other methods.
Identify and Disconnect the Ground Wire
Look behind the stereo where there is a bunch of wires passing through one or more than one wire harness clip.
Pick the black 12V ground wire and cut it between the first harness clip and stereo.
If the stereo turns off immediately, it shows that you have cut the right wire.
Pick the Alternate Grounding Location
After disconnecting the existing stereo ground, you have to pick the new grounding location.
A bare unpainted piece of metal is the best place to ground the stereo and complete its circuit with no interruption.
You can use the metal frame inside the dash as the new grounding location. It becomes visible when you remove the stereo head from the dash.
To check if the chosen spot is good ground, test it with a calibrated multimeter.
Put the one lead of the meter to the new ground location and the other lead to any existing ground location.
If the meter gives a beep, it shows that you have picked the right grounding location.
Hook Up the Stereo Wire to the New Ground Location
Now extend the ground wire of the stereo to the new grounding location. You might have to use a new piece of wire for that.
Depending on the new groundling location, you have multiple options to hook up the ground wire.
- Duct tape
- Crimp ends or caps
- Glue
After hooking up the ground, turning on the stereo, and revving up the engine, there are high chances you won’t hear that shrilling noise anymore.
Use a Ground Loop Isolator
If simply changing the stereo ground location doesn’t work, you can give a try ground loop isolator. It is a device used to cancel out the high-frequency AC signals and prevent them from entering the audio equipment.
It is an inexpensive device, and its setup is also pretty easy. All you need to do is connect one of its ends to your sound source (phone, mp3 player, or head unit) and the other end to the output of your stereo.
A ground loop isolator can affect the quality of the sound while removing its noise. Therefore, run this check before buying and installing a ground loop isolator to see if it would work.
- Take a wire and wrap its one naked end to the outer ring of the RCA cable coming from the channel producing the noise (remove all the other RCA cables).
- Connect the other end of the wire to the amplifier ground. If it results in the elimination or reduction of the noise, you can proceed with the use of a ground loop isolator.
Conclusion
We hope that you can get rid of whining noise from speakers when accelerating by using either of these methods. If the noise doesn’t go away, it would be better to consult a car audio expert to look into the problem and fix it. If this article helps you resolve the engine noise issue, please share it online to help fellow car owners facing the same problem.
Last update on 2024-04-19 / Affiliate links / *Image Disclaimer: We use images/data from Amazon Product Advertising API solely on products that link to Amazon. On products with the "Price at Crutchfield" button, we use images/data from Crutchfield.com as per the partnership deal.
