Engine noise in the radio - what's wrong?
Tech Contributor
Joined: Aug 1999
Posts: 14,365
Likes: 6,345
From: At my Bar drinking and wrenching in Lafayette Colorado
Make sure you have all your distributor shielding installed, plug wire shields installed, and that all ground straps are hooked up and installed.
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 37,637
Likes: 3,114
From: Crossville TN
If you have an A.I.M. manual, it will show all of the noise supression capacitors on the vehicle. Unfortunately, they will not be on just one page, but on several pages throughout the book. There will be a capacitor at every electrical location which has power switching (i.e., brake pedal when switching on tail lights) and where there is a motor system (i.e. windshield wiper, etc.). All these capacitors do is filter out the current spikes from switching, ignition pulses, and motor sliprings. As far as the sizes of these capacitors, the A.I.M. doesn't provide them. But most auto parts stores have noise supressor capacitors in stock and any would probably do the job in each location. Just replace the capacitors that you already have [but are likely bad] or, if missing, put them in the circuits where the A.I.M. shows them. P.S. you definitely need the metal ignition shielding on your engine to minimize spark noise.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 8,837
Likes: 1,027
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Melting Slicks
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 2,441
Likes: 0
Make sure all the audio wires are run separate from the power wires. I ran any additional power wires I may have added (fuel pump. pwr antenna, amp, etc) down the drivers side and the audio wires on the passenger's. This has made the biggest difference for me, no more engine whine from the speakers.
Safety Car
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 4,270
Likes: 20
From: Central Michigan
Had this problem a few months ago. Separating the power wires from the speaker wires helped, as did installing a noise suppressor on the ignition(I have MSD), took care of a lot of the racket
Burning Brakes
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 920
Likes: 1
From: Shelby Township Michigan
Replace the condensor located next to the coil. It has a single wire attached to the positive (+) terminal. This should take care of the problem.
Try this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/chevr...QQcmdZViewItem
Good luck,
Dino
Try this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/chevr...QQcmdZViewItem
Good luck,
Dino
Last edited by 1stC3Vette; Jan 12, 2007 at 09:51 PM.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 132
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From: Virginia Beach, VA
Le Mans Master
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 8,837
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http://www.termpro.com/articles/noise.html
Check out this link. It will give you some great tips to follow for ignition noise.(And others).
Check out this link. It will give you some great tips to follow for ignition noise.(And others).
Drifting
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 1,768
Likes: 244
From: Morgan City Louisiana
Le Mans Master
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 8,837
Likes: 1,027
The link I posted above is a great list of known problems and causes.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 1,126
Likes: 0
From: Hudson Falls, N.Y. 76 Vette Modified L-48
You should be sure you have the metal shield over your distributor as below (see pointer):
...and the alternator alternate current (a/c) filter as mentioned above...
My FM is fine, I get the whine with the cassette in at high volume...it's on my fix list
...and the alternator alternate current (a/c) filter as mentioned above...
My FM is fine, I get the whine with the cassette in at high volume...it's on my fix list
Race Director
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 16,416
Likes: 1
From: NC,USA
What type sparkplug wires are you running? Unsheilded radiate frequency that your speaker wires will pick up. Dont even have to have the radio turned on! You can swap out the wires for twisted, so the magnetic fields cross over and clean up whatever interferance you might be getting.
Last edited by ZD75blue; Jan 14, 2007 at 01:13 PM.