matt1990

So i need a little help I just got an sony xplode cd player and a kenwood amp (1100 watts?) and a 12 inch JL Audio subwoofer. I got all this installed and now my car starts a little hard, as in after 2 seconds. The car also seems to have to be at higher rpms to do what it did before i had all this installed, but i may just be a little paranoid about the rpm thing. What would you recommend i change out or add to the car to stop the late start and would my new audio equipment effect my rpms or driving

Background Info
i just got the car 2 months ago, the battery doesnt appear to be old or corroding and im not sure if the spark plugs or spark plug cables have been replaced anytime recently

matt1990

also, the amp's power isnt turned all the way up and just the one sub is run through the amp and there are no other electronic upgrades or changes on the car

MOOK3456

How exactly do you have your amp wired? And did you use a kit (harness) for the HU install or did you just cut and connect?

An amp alone shouldn't do this to your car. Either something is wired wrong and is affecting your electrical system or you may just have an issue with the car that happened to crop up at the same time... Start by disconnecting the amps power from the battery and start it again. If its still doing it, disconnect the power from the HU (or just remove fuse) and try starting again. If it STILL does it you likely have some other issue. You could try disconnecting the negative battery cable for a good 15 min. It will force the car into adaptive learning and may correct itself (assuming that this was on the 2001's Im not sure).

Other than that and maybe the first thing to do is simply check that you tightened up the battery cables/amp power/ground good. Check the positive battery terminal also (after you disconnect the negative) even if you hadn't removed it, it may just be loose.

matt1990

thank you, i disconnected the negative terminal (like you said) and it started up just fine, so i looked at the cables and the ground wasn't hooked up properly, i re-grounded it and now it starts up quicker. I dont know how the ground would effect it but apperently it did

ttocs

your ground is probably the most important connection, it can cause you to chase electrical gremlins.... Make sure you have it on a clean paint free surface or it will be limited.