I'm currently on the quest to rid my car of alternator whine and I'm trying to cover every little thing to do so. Anyway I'm considering running a new 4g cable from the negative terminal and bolting it straight to the chassis and I'm wondering if it is safe to do so (possible run a second wire from alternator chassis straight to the negative terminal as well.

Any advice?

Extra wires connecting the chassis, engine block and negative battery terminals wont hurt and can improve a number of things.

The alternator should be hard bolted to the block and shouldnt need an extra wire running to it.

There should be a capacitor which looks like a little tin can about half the length of a aaa battery on the back of the alternator.
It probably only has 1 wire on it.
I would be changing that first, as if its dead you will get alternator whine through your radio or wireless as us old folk call it :woot:

Its cheap and simple to change.

Thanks ol' fart. I have been trying to get that bloody thing off to replace it but the mongrel wont come off the connector :\ I even tried pulling the alternator off - that failed ^_^

I assume this is what you are talking about? I'm having a lot of issues getting that blue/green plug off.

http://imageshack.us/a/img268/5017/img0130cy.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img577/1254/img0129ee.jpg

While I'm at it, I'm going to replace the main power cable from alternator to the battery, do I need to fuse it? And will 4g be enough or should I run 0g?

While I'm at it, I'm going to replace the main power cable from alternator to the battery, do I need to fuse it? And will 4g be enough or should I run 0g?

4 Gauge will more than enough, and 120amp should fuse it quite nicely.

From memory, the alternator in the TF magna was rated at 130 amps, so 120 may not be enough.

For anyone interested the suppressor did nothing - hear is the fix if anyone is interested

http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showthread.php?t=97664&page=3


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ys-Mb-Un2uk#at=45

that part of the rca is the outer shield, it should be connected to the chassis of your sound system or its internal earth.

You may find you get the same effect by running a wire from a case screw to the cars body, which is easier than soldering.

Either way, good find and thanks for putting the solution on here.

I hate it when people find a fix and dont tell others :)

I did try running a ground to the chassis but that created a whine again just as if the amp was grounded. I've worked out the key to a good audio system is a completely free floating system - no earths apart from head unit grounds and amp grounds. If any part of the system is grounded (amp case or head unit case), alternator whine seems to become present. Even with a top line $1000 head unit, they still have flaws. I hope to create a good guide for others and will add to that video this weekend with a full walkthrough!

Thats an interesting one.

Done dozens of installs but thats a newy on me.

When i said chassis there I meant the body of yur head unit, but u covered that.

That had to be a major prick to find :)