hey guys, geting new fusion sub and amp tube thing from repco today, installing tomorrow, just wanting to know the easiest way to get power cable through the firewall in a 2nd gen, is the best way to go near the brake booster?

Have never done a 2nd gen sorry. I would look for a grommet that enters the car on the passenger side somewhere. If there isn't one then you will just have to use what is available.

Added a big monoblock amp recently, so decided to upgrade the wiring. (stereo already installed when i got the car). The accelerator cable had a huge opening where it goes throguh the firewall, its just to the middle of the car from the brake booster. Its kinda easy to miss, from inside the car you can see where the original cable and acceleator cable goes, but took me a few looks to see where it came through the firewall. Its a big higher than you think, but when you see it its very obvious and easy to get too. I got 4guage cable and two probably 16 or 24 guage size cables from a laser jammer running through there two.

Ohh, make sure you put the rubber grommet back as best you can, I forgot, and the next day, I thought my engine had no oil because the was a high pitched ticking from the lifters that was so loud I thought the engine was stuffed. Couldnt believe the difference when I put it back, it was silent again. Im going to stuff blu-tac in there to seal up between the cables properly, seeing the difference that made. Should make the car a bit quiter.

Ollie

Thanks a bunch Ollie, that should stop me wasting time looking for stuff.

Have never done a 2nd gen sorry. I would look for a grommet that enters the car on the passenger side somewhere. If there isn't one then you will just have to use what is available.
Battery is on the opposite side to a third gen :( Drivers side is usually the most pleasant side to use.

Battery is on the opposite side to a third gen :( Drivers side is usually the most pleasant side to use.

:D ha fair enough. My mum did have a second gen but it was a while ago so I don't remember it. :redface:

ok i have another problem, the sub is in and sounding sweet..... when it actually works, i think i maybe have a grounding problem, the sub and amp cut off dead when im driving and then come back to life when they feel like it, ive checked all my connections on battery and head unit and this is all i can figure it to be, i have the amp earthed on the seatbelt bolt as this was the only spot i could find without reach of my earth cable with metal contact, where is everyone else grounding amps in 2nd gens wagons and has anyone else had this problem with cutting out? it sometimes stays on for a while then cuts off then stays off, also if i turn off the head unit when the sub is dead and then turn the head unit back on it springs back to life for about 30 secs then dies again.... im stumped...

I think your right it sounds like a grounding problem. When I first installed it, I cant remember where too now but it would cut in and out when you riggled the ground cable. Reason it probably comes back on again is because it gets a stronger turn on signal or something. Anyway, one amp is going to the floor in the middle od the back footwell, which was already there previously.

The new one, to make it easier, went to the back centre front seat post. But make sure you have a clean connection, I got a wire brush thing on a drill, got rid of all the paint, and put a thin washer on both sides of the connector to make sure the ground got a good connection.

Ollie

ahh woops maybe thats my problem, i didnt bother to sand back any paint to get a good metal connection, better go do that then, cheers again Ollie.

ok ive now made sure ive got a very good earth but it still does it but i figured out when the sub dies the amp is still getting power, if i wiggle the rcas around the sub comes back to life... the rcas are plugged in all good, could this be a problem with the rca cables?

edit: the sub works fine while the car is not moving, if i have my stereo on while the car is off and not moving it works fine, its just when i drive about 10 or 20 metres it cuts off......
im really puzzed.

has anyone got any idea? the sub works when im driving very slowly or stopped and with the engine off, but when im driving at normal speeds it cuts off completely, its really really bugging the heck outta me, any ideas would be great.

possibly leads but maybe your amp has a dry joint in the soldier that breaks contact when your bumping along hence sound when stopped.

do you have a spare set of RCA's handy that will reach the headunit / amp?

if so, pull the HU from the dash, plug in your temp RCA's, run them to the amp - go for a short drive
(while securing your car as best possible in its half pulled apart state)

if no jumping / dropping out of the sub, then its 99% sure to be the RCA's are dead.

do any of the cables have any wear marks in the protective coating?
maybe its shorting out *somewhere*

thanks for the input, its not the rca, today and last night the sub has lasted the whole time i was driving and others it hasnt lasted, it doesnt jump on and the off again quickly, if it dies it dies for a long time then comes back on maybe after 5 or 10 mins, stays on for another minute then jumps off, i worked out if i move the power cable around under the bonnet it fixes the problem, is there a possibility that because im running the cable through the accelerator cable grommet in the firewall that its restricting power somehow? ive just a strong hunch its the power cable somehow because the moving of the cable seems to fix it, i will try running it through somewhere else tomorrow.

Reeeeeeeally sounds like it's a ground problem... Where exactly is this thing grounded to?

Anothing thing, do you have any lights on your amp, like to tell you if its overheating, clipping, power problems etc?

As for power, are you sure there are no connection problems anywhere, they shoudl be all tight, especially near the battery and the battery terminals.

Ollie

Could be the fuse holder. If you are using one of those round plastic ones then make sure the you have screwed it on properly. I have done the once, didn't work but all it was that I hadn't screwed it in. Didn't get to the driving stage though :D

I would check the connection in and out of the holder as well.

its grounded to the back centre seatbelt bolt under the seat, its all sanded back to bare metal and its on tight, the fuse holder is not an in-line fuse its just a small rubber thing and it just uses a normal fuse like the ones in the kick tray next to the accelerator, the amp has a green light showing its getting power and red light to show if its protection mode, the green light stays on when the sub has stopped working.

heres a link to the sub and amp i bought:
http://www.fusioncaraudio.com/products.php?region=3&action=view&product_id=374

Perhaps you should try hooking an MP3 player or the like to the amp via the RCA from the 3.5mm jack. At least that way you can definately say that it is the wiring for the amp or it is coming from the signal side of things.

so to check that i will need to buy a rca to 3.5mm jack cable? ahh i should just take it to an auto electrician and so what they reckon.

ok i found out the problem i was having, the guy who owned the car before installed extra driving lights but took them out before selling the car, he took the lights out and cut the wire for them back to just behind the battery in the engine bay, he left wire from the behind the steering wheel through the firewall and then cut it in the engine bay and left it there with no tape on the end, i ran my sub power cable through the same hole in the firewall as he used for the driving lights and ran the cable along side the driving light cable in the engine bay, after cutting out all the driving light cables my sub now works perfectly, so the power cable from the driving lights that wasnt connected to anything must of been disrupting the power somehow...... very very odd lol

ok i found out the problem i was having, the guy who owned the car before installed extra driving lights but took them out before selling the car, he took the lights out and cut the wire for them back to just behind the battery in the engine bay, he left wire from the behind the steering wheel through the firewall and then cut it in the engine bay and left it there with no tape on the end, i ran my sub power cable through the same hole in the firewall as he used for the driving lights and ran the cable along side the driving light cable in the engine bay, after cutting out all the driving light cables my sub now works perfectly, so the power cable from the driving lights that wasnt connected to anything must of been disrupting the power somehow...... very very odd lol

That sure is odd, im thinkign maybe the ends of the wires where it was cut was touchign metal in the engine compartment and causign power leakage/groundign issues or something???

Ollie

yeah i know i didnt bother even thinking it could of been those wires but i worked out the sub worked perfectly at night when i had my headlights on, so when i cut out all the headlight wires it now works perfectly, very very strange, the cut ends werent even touching bare metal, but i did have the amp power cable running along side the cut cable, pretty happy i got that problem sussed.