For someone to isolate your problem online with no more information than what you've provided and tell you to replace your head unit is ridiculous. For you to follow that online instruction is perhaps worse.

Several questions are still unanswered unless there were some PMs floating back and forth.

* What kind of amp (cheap amps can draw interference regardless of how well they're grounded.

* Your power wire run, how close it it to the alternator?

* Have you tried running a different set of RCAs direct from the deck to the amp? (meaning away from the kickpanel and door sills)

* When you pulled your power lead thru the firewall did you have to use a good bit of force, perhaps scraping some of the shielding away?

* Have you tried a different audio source into the amp while the truck is running to see if the ground hum is still present?

* Have you installed aftermarket spark plugs?

* Have you tried using a different source wire as the turn on lead?

These are just a FEW of MANY questions and scenarios to try before spending a bunch of jack on new equipment.

As far as Pioneers in general having problems, maybe that's true. I personally have a D3 running a single sub and an single RF amp without the slightest hint of ground hum. That doesn't mean they're all perfect, but it certainly means that "all pioneers seem to have a ground problem" is an horribly misleading statement that should be taken at most with a grain of salt.

At this point, two decks into your search for a solution the head unit is now the LAST thing I would suspect. If it's equipment at this point I'd be more inclined to think amplifier. But honestly, that is even a HUGE stretch with the limited information we have to work from.

 

all pioneers have the ground fuse problem. its not opinion but a known fact.

 

All have the POTENTIAL for it to be a problem, there's a huge difference between a potential problem and telling a guy to go buy a new head unit based exclusively on that. I do not intend this to be a personal attack but I find it amazing that anyone would recommend buying a new radio before simple troubleshooting steps have been followed. That's the exact same thing as seeing a Chevy broke down on the side of the road, pulling over and instantly telling the driver to replace his fuel pump because you saw a recall notice on TV or that you had two buddies that had bad pumps in their chevys. While it very well could be the fuel pump... You get the point..

 

ya but 9 times out of 10 the h/u is the culprit causing the noise when there is alt whine. the other 10% is usually a poor ground... both problems will end up grounding through the rca's.

 

Well to begin I just wanted to buy a new HU anyway so I didnt buy just on the recommendation of this thread.

To answer some questions

* What kind of amp (cheap amps can draw interference regardless of how well they're grounded.

Kicker ZR360

* Your power wire run, how close it it to the alternator?

I ran the power wire from the battery and I used the grommet behind the battery so its not real close to the alternator

* Have you tried running a different set of RCAs direct from the deck to the amp? (meaning away from the kickpanel and door sills)

I bought a set of monster cable RCA's and reran them an still had the noise

* When you pulled your power lead thru the firewall did you have to use a good bit of force, perhaps scraping some of the shielding away?

I checked that and no I did not scrap any shielding away.

* Have you tried a different audio source into the amp while the truck is running to see if the ground hum is still present?

I have not done this. Good idea and will try tomarrow

* Have you installed aftermarket spark plugs?

Factory Plugs

* Have you tried using a different source wire as the turn on lead?

Nope

Overall I think it the head unit. I am going to try a gound loop isolator and see how that works.

Thank you everone who has responded and I will keep you all posted.

 

Cannot agree more and having suffered through it myself with a Pioneer DVD5700 (which was stolen, the A-Hole did me a slight favor)

After I put the Alpine W205 ALL of my engine noise was gone....I only had a noise while listening to AM sports shows.....swapped to Alpine PDX amps, all noise gone.

I had 3 different stereo installers try 20 different combos with my Pioneer none of the solutions listed in this thread helped.

Once the unit has the problem, it's there for good.

BTW, the "ground loop isolator" trick won't work, save your money.

 

After researching this your not the only one who has said that. Thanks for all your help so far styxnpicks (and everyone else!)! I think I am going to try that PAC ground loop isolator before a try to replace the Pico fuse or send it to have it replaced.

 

Well the good news about the new deck is that the warranty should cover repair if that is indeed the problem. I feel your pain and in the past have spent my share of time running down engine noise and it's frustrating. Be it a Pioneer problem or something far simpler I hope you get it resolved and back to enjoying your system!

 

at least now you know what the problem is

 

Well thanks for the good luck wish! I will keep you all posted on the problem and hopefully the solution.

 

So today I was at the local walmart looking at the meguires cleaning products and I cut through what they call there car audio section and to my suprise there was a cheap ground loop isolator. I figured what the hell I will put it in my truck in the parking lot and if it doesnt work I will take it back. Well to my suprise IT WORKED!! No engine noise, no loss in sub output! I was relieved that my problem was finally solved and on top of that solved with a cheap scosche ground loop isolator.

Thanks to all that have helped and responded to this thread. I love F150online!!

 

I hope that works, if you check out www.the12volt.com and search your issue with Pioneers, you'll find that this solution works about 5% of the time and based on that, its a temp fix as the ground noise gets worse over time. Hate to be chicken little here but I do hope that fixes your issue for good, its a pain in the **** to deal with.

 

I remember hearing of people stripping a length of wire, wrapping it around the RCA outputs on their Pioneer (far enough back that it wont interfere with your cable connections) then grounding that wire straight to the deck. Seemed to work for a lot of people.

Monster's mobile cables are NOT good cables either...also another product known to cause some noise. If you had other cables on before with the noise and replaced them with the Monsters I dont suppose I would worry about it too much though

 

I've seen this work, but I didnt like the idea, I usually run a ground from the amp to the deck and get good results, but the best part is that it's free