Hey, im driving an 00 ford taurus and ive had an amp + sub in there since may this year with the same problem, but now its worse. It has the Mach audio system with 6 speakers, and a 6 cd changer in the trunk. Im running a Sony Xplod 500w amplifier to 2 Sony Xpod 700w subs in a custom box with fiberglass front and 2 vertical portholes.

to put an aftermarket deck into this car i have to buy a fairly expensive dash install kit because the dash is shaped in a wierd way and has the thermostat controls built right into it. i dont really have the money (and im very lazy and prefer to DIY) for a deck and install kit right now so here is how i have it all set up:

the head unit is in the trunk underneath the carpet on the left side. the controls on the dash are just that, controls and nothing else. I found a few wiring diagrams online and figured out which wires went into the head unit, and i spliced into the left and right, positive and negative wires for my RCA cables to my amp. i get all the sound, and my speakers all still work. i spliced into the antenna wire for the remote power, grounded my amp to bare metal, and ran a good solid power wire to my battery, with a fuse.

my problem is that at completely random times, doing random things and just when my car wants to mess with me, my subs will go full blast, for no reason. turn the car on, subs just go BOOOOOOM, even with the volume turned down to zero (this is the newest problem, its never done this, and it worked fine last night). it also does it when i turn my head unit off, or when i open my passenger door all the way. by messing around a bit with my amp placement, i found that the closer it is to the head unit in the trunk, it would start to boom. but what doesnt make sense to me is that it was working perfectly fine last night, now this morning its crap again? it sucks when i start my car up at the gas station and i gotta turn it off quick and pull my fuse out, while everyone is staring at me for shaking the pumps.

EDIT: tried to draw my trunk, didnt work out. think of it like this:

from looking at it with the trunk open from the rear of the car, you see the sub box in front of you, the deck is off to the left of the trunk under the carpet, and the amp is in behind the subs screwed to the floor mat. i played with the placement of the amp and subs and this position has worked fine for a few weeks now.



Even if you guys cant point out a fix to my problem, i would just like to know WHY my subs are doing this, and what components are not mixing together properly. I thought that moving my amp behind my subs far away from the head unit would fix it but it hasnt. help me!

Edit # 2: was messing around with it this morning and i pulled my fuse out to find the little fuse container was a little messed up on the bottom connection part, maybe that was causing the trouble? but ive had the same fuse and holder since i first installed this system so i dont see how that could be it. im going out now to buy a breaker switch and a new fuse holder.

 

From what I read you spliced the speaker wires to run RCAs to an amp? That will be your problem right there. To do this properly you will need to use a line out converter (LOC) hook up your speaker wires to it then it will have RCA plugs to go to your amp. Something like this unit here...

http://www.installer.com/item/display_item.php?it=svenr

If you are not using anything like this and have just attached RCAs to the ends of your speaker leads from the deck I am surprised your amps haven't released the magic smoke yet. I am not too familiar with factory Ford systems so I may be wrong, but I think this is the problem.
Hope this helps, and I will keep my thoughts on Sony gear to myself LOL.
Anything else I can do just ask.
Nick

 

I would not recommend a breaker they deteriorate over time and may not work when you need it to. Fuses are always the better way to go. How big is the wire going to your battery? And where is the fuse mounted for it? I don't think this is the problem, but it will help to eliminate a potential source of it.
Nick

 

you have it right, thats what ive done. I dont know an extreme amount about how electricity and certain wires are interpreted by amps, but i do understand what you mean. i saw a line out converter for around 25$ when i was out earlier, but i didnt buy it (didnt know that was what i needed). i replaced the small, thin gauge rca wires with some much heavier duty ones i had sitting around from a previous wiring kit i bought for my Caravan. these seemed to help quite a bit (no more quiet hum, no more full blast subs).

this line out converter, will it make my amp + subs "safe" from my ghetto wiring? i know how to splice and protect open wires, so i just need something that will give my amp the proper information it needs. thanks for your input!

edit: to 420guy

i didnt end up buying a breaker, but i replaced my fuse holder with a brand new one, and it is wired about 5inches in from my battery on my power line. the power wire is 0 gauge. I also bought a simple two-way switch i can put in my power line so i can turn my subs off from inside the car if needed.