Amp troubleshooting help

OK, Just got my amp back from Audison. Supposedly, there was a bad module that they replaced. So, I hook it up last night, and just turn the accessory switch on. Yay! I have sound. OK, I go take a shower and head out for the night. In the drive across town, it shuts itself off like 4 or 5 times. Completely off, not protect mode. Crap. It would play for maybe 20-30 seconds, then shut off regardless of power level. Does the same thing on my way home later last night.

So I get home, go grab my DMM and measure some voltages. The car is idling in park, and the amp is getting 14.0v at the power connection and 13.5v from the turn on lead.

On my drive to work this morning, it turns off a few times in the first 5-10 minutes of the drive, then it remains on for the rest of the way, about 20 more minutes.

Any ideas?

check your grounds.

ground is tight, hasn't been touched on the car body at all, only removed from old amp and placed on "fixed" amp...

update:

I can't get to the ground attachment point without taking half my car apart (it's under the back seat.) The only thing I can do is measure the voltage from the ground wire to a different (available) ground point and I get -14.0v. Positive from the battery gives me 14.0v at the amp.

Does this eliminate a bad ground being a possible cause?

you can ohm out your ground if you are using a multimeter. switch it to the upside down horseshoe and touch the leads together. you should read about .1 on the meter. that means there is good consistency through the wire. now take the leads and touch one end to the amp ground, and the other end to a bolt or something connected to the chassis and you should read the same thing. if the meter doesn't get as low as .5 on the meter, your ground is bad.

hmmm.... I can't get to the one end of the lead since it's bolted to the car under the back seat. can I just measure it at the amp ground connection and then another bolt on the car?

NINaudio said:

update:

I can't get to the ground attachment point without taking half my car apart (it's under the back seat.) The only thing I can do is measure the voltage from the ground wire to a different (available) ground point and I get -14.0v. Positive from the battery gives me 14.0v at the amp.

Does this eliminate a bad ground being a possible cause?

Click to expand...

That eliminates the fact that a bad ground isn't possible when the car is stationaty.
But if the car is moving through turns, stopping, & starting the ground could be loose and cause the amp to go on and off.

blacknight said:

That eliminates the fact that a bad ground isn't possible when the car is stationaty.
But if the car is moving through turns, stopping, & starting the ground could be loose and cause the amp to go on and off.

Click to expand...

it goes on and off while stationary too...

or moving

low volume

or high volume...

doesn't matter really. I've found nothing consistent except that it only does it until the amp gets warm/hot.

Is the amp properly ventilated? Try some fans to help cool it if it is getting too hot

Tx_Accord98 said:

you can ohm out your ground if you are using a multimeter. switch it to the upside down horseshoe and touch the leads together. you should read about .1 on the meter. that means there is good consistency through the wire. now take the leads and touch one end to the amp ground, and the other end to a bolt or something connected to the chassis and you should read the same thing. if the meter doesn't get as low as .5 on the meter, your ground is bad.

Click to expand...

OK, I get 0.1 ohm through the ground wire...

I4, the problem is not heat related, it goes away once the amp warms up. I would imagine that making it cooler would make the problem last longer...