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Bad ground!! Most annoying noise ever!

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Old Jan 29, 2008 | 01:54 AM
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Bad ground!! Most annoying noise ever!

I have to disconnect my battery every time i turn my car off in fear of draining my battery. I believe i have a bad ground because whenever i connect my battery there is a little spark over the negative terminal and once my battery is connected i hear a constant buzzing noise. This noise stays on once the battery is connected and never goes off until i disconnect the battery. I hear this buzzing noise comming from the inside of my car. It's not a low coolant buzzer or a redline buzzer. I've searched and looked through ton's of threads and i don't believe anyone has posted how to get rid of this problem. If anyone has any suggestions it would be greatly appreciated.
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Old Jan 29, 2008 | 02:25 AM
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From: Davie, Florida
get an audio and upload it
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Old Jan 29, 2008 | 02:35 AM
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is it your fuel pump? some one hasn't put a direct wire from your battery to your pump have they.. its a far fetch but i've seen it done before
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Old Jan 29, 2008 | 03:27 AM
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From: Abbottstown, PA
Originally Posted by illmatik
If anyone has any suggestions it would be greatly appreciated.
re-run all your grounds...its not hard. only costs around $20
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Old Jan 29, 2008 | 07:44 AM
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Originally Posted by illmatik
I have to disconnect my battery every time i turn my car off in fear of draining my battery. I believe i have a bad ground because whenever i connect my battery there is a little spark over the negative terminal and once my battery is connected i hear a constant buzzing noise. This noise stays on once the battery is connected and never goes off until i disconnect the battery. I hear this buzzing noise comming from the inside of my car. It's not a low coolant buzzer or a redline buzzer. I've searched and looked through ton's of threads and i don't believe anyone has posted how to get rid of this problem. If anyone has any suggestions it would be greatly appreciated.
IMO, it's NOT a bad ground that is causing your current drain.

A bad ground should only affect anything when current is already flowing due to something being on. You have to find what is causing the buzzing (or other current drain) to fix this. IMO, replacing grounds may help something else, but will not fix the battery drain problem.

Do you have any aftermarket stereo, etc, that may stay partially on while the ignition is off? IMO, it has to be something like this.
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Old Jan 29, 2008 | 10:40 AM
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if it is an audio related problem wouldn't the sound increase as the RPM's climb? because it my case it has the same pitch
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Old Jan 29, 2008 | 10:46 AM
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Originally Posted by illmatik
if it is an audio related problem wouldn't the sound increase as the RPM's climb? because it my case it has the same pitch
1. I didn't realize you were hearing it when you were driving - I don't recall that you said that.
2. It could be some sort of inverter , solenoid, or relay buzzing - that would probably have a constant sound frequency.
3. A bad ground could cause noise, but it's more likely #2.
4. I thought the basic problem you were trying to solve was the battery drain - and that's not affected (IMO) by a bad ground.

Dave
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Old Jan 29, 2008 | 08:59 PM
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If it is audio related it will increase a little with rpms. Now to test this theory all you have to do is turn off your radio/cd player and see if it goes away. Also if it is the audio system you will hear it coming from your speakers. Usually it is because the RCa cables are too close to a power source, usually a Power cable running to an amplifier, or anything that puts out a positive signal.
You can either rereoute them somewhere else or get shielded rca cables.

If it is not the audio system than i would check some ground wires to make sure they are not touching a bare wire somewhere. could possibly be in the engine bay and transfering through the audio system.

Keep us updated.
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Old Jan 30, 2008 | 11:22 AM
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From: laurel, md usa
could be a short grounding, locate the buzzing.
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Old Feb 3, 2008 | 03:47 PM
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From: NYC
sounds like it's comming from the dash cluster (and no it isn't a warning buzzer) anyone hear about anyone else having this problem
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Old Feb 6, 2008 | 11:45 PM
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From: laurel, md usa
I think you may consider taking your dash apart and look for signs of arcing, and then reapply voltage to further pinpoint the buzz.
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Old Feb 7, 2008 | 07:47 AM
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might be the relay box below the dash. The solderings often show signs of aging. I recently had a problem with my seat belt light never going off and the dash making a ticking noise. It was also causing my battery to go flat. I bought a used relay black box from a friend and it solved my problem.
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Old Aug 17, 2009 | 06:36 PM
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From: Where ever the Navy takes me...
FL Might have a similar problem...?

I just replaced my Alt this weekend and put new belts on due to it not charging my battery (had the alternator tested and it came up with a bad diode)

After I started the car up after placing everything back where it goes, I was getting an electrical kind of sound (like a buzzing or vibrating kind of sound) coming from underneath the dash, the dash warning lights for everything were also flickering when the buzzing sound was present. Whenever I raised the RPMs, the buzzing would stop along with the warning lights briefly. I thought it was maybe the ecu or the relay next to it... About 20 minutes after I discovered the noise, the engine dropped from 2k to 1k RPS quite suddenly, then slowly dropped from 1k to stalling over ~4 minutes...

Does anyone have any ideas? I'm hoping for a simple/cheap fix, as the Navy doesn't exactly pay enough to maintain such a vehicle and support a family. Lol I just can't seem to let her go though.
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Old Aug 18, 2009 | 12:05 AM
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sound like my problem.... a relay thats wiggin out but mine is next to the distribution box in the engine bay
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Old Aug 18, 2009 | 06:16 PM
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From: CA
Check all your ground. Had a similar problem like this but on a FC3S. It was the transmission ground.
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Old Aug 18, 2009 | 06:44 PM
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From: near Wichita, Kansas
Keep in mind there will ALWAYS be a SMALL spark or arc when re-connecting a battery, but it should be pretty faint.
I realize this doesn't help at all with your 'buzzing' problem, what I would do is to start pulling fuses with the battery hooked up, and when the buzzing stops...voila'.
You've at least found the basic path to go start checking out.

Trust me, I owned British sports cars for years, and they have the WORST electrical systems known to man and demon. One gets pretty good at ferreting out things like this.
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Old Aug 18, 2009 | 09:04 PM
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From: Where ever the Navy takes me...
FL

I would try that but my car simply will not start now... The buzzing was coming from somewhere near a relay or the cruise control computer under my dash on the left side near where the ECU is.
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