I thought it was working again and it's not. It keeps cutting out when the car shifts, accelerates and sometimes idling. I replaced this piece in the distributor, new plug wiires, the dumbass radio shop said they put a filter on it and charged me 50 dollars about two weeks ago. I still can't find it. The guy at the front desk says they put it behind the CD player and it's not in there. They wont see me until next thursday. My mechanic is off until thursday for the holidays....Someone help me figure it out. I want to drive the car this weekend because all my friends are going to go cruising saturday night and I will want to drive the car. What is the problem with it? Where is the ground for it? I have checked fuses. I am at wits end with this thing. Nobody wants to help here or they are to stupid to admit they don't know what to do. I've searched all the wires I can in the car. No cut or loose ones. It's a kenwood if that helps. I'm ready to rip all the speakers out and sell the damn thing. Also, there is a new distributor, distributor cap, rotor button and I even took all that off to double check everything. What could possibly be left. Alternaotor and battery are new as well. I have a voltometer if that will help.

Thank you for any insight.

Edit: I posted pics here and everyone said they did a bad install but theres nothing I can do about it.

Ok, first off he did have a bad install so lets straight away keep off of that subject. Now, sounds like either a bad ground or a bad power connection. How do they have things connected? Spades or plugs? If spades then you need to tug on all the power wires and grounds at the connections to see if you have any loose connections. I have had this happen to me before and I know its frustrating but its pretty easy to find the culprit. Basically your powering up and wiggling things till it happens and then try to isolate which wire is it.

I have a optima. There is four outlets to hook the cables up. My two are hooked on the top and on the bottom left side, they hooked up my amp up along with the subwoofers wired to that. I took the three plastic pieces off the back area and saw the wiring going down thru that area. I lost sight of it when it goes beneath the carpet. Where is the ground at?

I know you are not going to like this, but I have to say it. A terrible install was done of the aftermarket accessories on your car.

I would seek out someone who knows what the hell they are doing and rewire all of it before your car catches on fire.

If you don't have the factory service manuals for your car, order them. They will have the wiring diagrams that someone working on your car will need.

Quote:No man, start at the radio (the problem) and work your way back. Otherwise your going to go in circles before you find anything if you find anything at all. :thumbleft:

Was the ignition coil replaced?

Do you have any crossfire from the plug wires? Pop your hood in the dark and disconnect the underhood lights, check for crossfire from the wires with the ignition running.

A bad coil or arcing wires can really mess with the solid-state electronics.

Coil has been replaced. I can check it tomorrow to see if it is bad. I did not think of that since it is new. Thanks. The last one was burned. Appreciate it guys.

Bogus said the same thing about the car catching fire. There is nobody here that knows what they are remotley doing with this. I know it's a bad install. It has not been right. Going back outside now to keep checking for stuff. It's dark now and I have a big light and 2 floodllights.

Thanks again.

Quote:

Just in case my post was not clear, I am NOT kidding about the possibility of the wiring catching the car on fire. Judging by the pictures of the install I doubt the "installers" know anything about rubber grommets, shrink wrap, fuses, soldering, conduit, etc.

I hope you carry a fire extinguisher. Don't park your car inside a garage or close to the house!

I've worked on a few fire hazards.

On one vette owner's car, when I reinstalled the hush panel under the dash, a direct short occured in some unfused alarm wiring done by Circuit City. The entire car was filled with smoke, luckily I was able to get the battery disconnected in time before it caught fire.

I recall it was some wire nuts they used that fell off. IMO, wire nuts should NEVER be used on stranded wire. They should NEVER be used in an environment subject to vibration.

If you insist on using electrical tape, get the highest quality stuff you can find. It will be very flexible and difficult to tear by hand. The other stuff can't handle heat/cold and will fall off.

I solder and shrink wrap all my connections, and even bundle them into wire loom and sometimes even tag the wires if it's something posterity might find themselves scratching their heads over.

I dropped the. passenger side kick panel and speaker wiring just fell down. I will also add there is a plug that looks similar to my cell phone charger hanging out to that is not plugged in. I wonder if that has something to do with the stereo system. They did not tie it down. Still trying to trace it down to where else it is going thru but it got dark and cold so I called it a night. Lets say it's not a bad coil. Whats left. Where could the ground be at that could cause it to skip. When it is running on the "Accessories" it sounds perfect! Maybe it's the vibrations. The CD player is out. I have double checked all the connections there. Any other places to look at? Im lost and irritated. Nobody wants to cooperate with me and the shop says the car has some "serious issues". Theres always some lame excuse...

BV - we need to restart the thread we started a couple of weeks ago.

You need to get into this install and figure it out. I highly suggest you get a book on Car Audio installation, and start reading. The theory will take you a long way. Then apply it to your car... it won't be a 100% application transfer, but it will give you the concepts. And that is all you need for car audio - Concepts.