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A new problem has risen with my 2003 E85. When I start the car there is loud crackling and popping coming from the rear speakers. It occurs even when the radio is off. NO button pushing seems to affect it. After about it minute it slowly starts to fade and eventually goes away. The Radio and speakers seems to be unaffected and continues to sound normal otherwise. I have the Carver amp and 10 speaker set up in the car. This only started to happen when the weather got cold. After the crackling and popping goes away I can turn the car off and turn back on a short time later and there is no crackling. If I let it set for a while it comes back. I see no evidence of damage or moisture near the amp. Is my amp going bad? Does it need to warm up? Anyone else had a similar situation?

I didn't figure this would be a common problem. Anyone have any suggestions? It seems to be related to the cold weather. Could it also be related to a weak battery? I think my battery is getting old and it will lose a charge if i let it set for a week without a tender on it?

Still cold in iowa. Started the car the other day. Same crackling i described. Thought i would re-UP this and see if anyone has suggestions?

You are looking for a component or connection that has a break, short or bad earth, or an aftermarket fitment like a bluetooth kit, or aftermarket / re-fitted audio kit like speakers. A methodical check should quickly narrow it down. Switching stuff on and off is a good start but some components are autonomous.
Does the interference rise with revving the engine? If so you are looking to eliminate components like alternator, pumps etc. If it's not related to engine speed it's something that's live at start-up and closes down after a while e.g. like the rear window de-mister which is a very common cause. The source is likely to be close to the affected speakers or on the same fused circuit or earth.

The rear de-mister would be my first port of call, good hunting

Ewazix wrote: ↑Mon Jan 29, 2018 11:00 pmYou are looking for a component or connection that has a break, short or bad earth, or an aftermarket fitment like a bluetooth kit, or aftermarket / re-fitted audio kit like speakers. A methodical check should quickly narrow it down. Switching stuff on and off is a good start but some components are autonomous.
Does the interference rise with revving the engine? If so you are looking to eliminate components like alternator, pumps etc. If it's not related to engine speed it's something that's live at start-up and closes down after a while e.g. like the rear window de-mister which is a very common cause. The source is likely to be close to the affected speakers or on the same fused circuit or earth.

The rear de-mister would be my first port of call, good hunting

No rise with reving. I did install an aux port but did not have issues until it got cold outside. Thanks for the suggestions. Will definitely use this as a guide to track down the culprit.

Probably your amp. They go wrong quite a lot, but are usually repairable.

An old school trick to trace the source of stray radio interference is to get a pocket radio, tune it to white noise on AM band, then move it around the car, interior, engine bay etc the closer you get to the source the worse the larger the change in received signal on the radio. Try it out near a florescent tube light or something like a hair dryer you'll get the idea.

....... and aftermarket LED bulbs can create stray RF

I’ve moved this topic to the correct section.