This Lexus is fighting me all the way!

[ATX.WeenR 5]

Got a single Sundown 12 on an American Bass VFL Comp 2k I recently purchased, thanks SSA, and I've mentioned before that I've been having grounding issues. Just basically absolute hell trying to get a good clean ground. Now that I think I have a decent ground I think all the money Toyota put into making these cars silent in the mid 90's is haunting me and making it a beast to try to get my full sound out of the trunk! Lol. FML!

[Randal Johnson 544]

Pics would be nice.

[ATX.WeenR 5]

11 minutes ago, Randal Johnson said:

Pics would be nice.

Yeah man I can probably get brave enough in the next couple hours to walk out into my 50 degree garage in this 45 degree weather (brrrrr bone chilling cold) and get a pic or two... Just know what you're asking of me! Lol I'm just trying to make life seem really friggin lush and easy down in Texas knowing lots of these dudes are from the Northeast lol... 

I love NYC but fuggin that city around New year's is absolute bullshit!!! I saw a show at MSG New year's Eve years ago and waiting outside the venue and just making my way into the city was g'damn murder....cold ass subway platforms and 90 mph gusts of negative thousand degree wind!!! Never again!!! Lol

sorry guys.... tangent. I do that. often.

Edited November 13, 2018 by ATX.WeenR

[ATX.WeenR 5]

Ok so it actually got even colder so opening my garage door so I could get behind my car and take that picture but I usually park in the parking garage under our office so if I can get so lucky today even running this late I'll get that pic! I will say that you will notice that in my trunk you'll see that my gas tank is actually behind the back seat! Crazy huh!!? So strange that a cop even thought that I was smuggling shit in my trunk in a homemade tank! SMH.... Dipshit ass cop!! Lol

Anyway that is now what I'm believing is the issue or at least part of it anyway. I'm not only dealing with getting my bass wave through a thick leather seat back but also a 22 Gallon metal tank full of highly flammable liquid. Not that the flammable part makes it any worse but who knows?!?? Ok give me an hour and I'll get you a pic of my seat back with the trunk carpet/screen pulled away.

[ATX.WeenR 5]

OK... SO I FOUND THIS! Which would have been nice to know LOOOONG ago! since I've been dealing with electrical issues since I got this car.. I was assuming they were all mostly over a burnt out or broken wire especially when I traced it down to one single wire and after jumping a fused hot wire over to the power tilt and telescopic steering controls almost ALL of the electrical things that were once non-functioning were suddenly ALIVE!!!! I thought that was crazy but it made me so extremely happy that I didn't even think that maybe there was a deeper issue. Which this is probably not a cause or even a result of that but if it were it wouldn't surprise me.. I guess I finally types what Google wanted to hear me say today and ran across this piece of info.. Which I can't believe I hadn't already seen considering I am already a member of Club Lexus's forums etc... Anyway here it is if you feel like reading.. and if you do and want to be a great person and can come up with a great solution for me in order to get good grounds up front and in the trunk too... PLEASE DO SO!!!!!

 

MY NOT SO SIMPLE GROUNDING ISSUES... POSSIBLY SOLVED!??!

[ATX.WeenR 5]

Sorry guys upon looking at my trunk I thought it would be much better if I yanked everything out.. here's a pic. Come on suggestions! And yes the silver tank like thing is filled with gas! Crazy huh?

Edited November 17, 2018 by ATX.WeenR
Actually add picture

[ATX.WeenR 5]

For what it's worth I have some progress made and I'm actually about 3/4 of the way through this amp rack build which will then leave me to deal with the final routing of the wires and "tacking" them down. Mounting of course after fabricating the amp cover which will cover the amps up to the elevation of the end cap leaving you with just enough of a view of the top of the amps and the gain and crossover controls...

Granted this is a basic budget build but I'm happy to have this stuff mounted safely and where I can adjust anything if I were to want to. Oh and the new sub box build. For now I have the single Sundown SD-3 and I'm happy with the output but I think I might be happier with a little more output so I'm thinking about maybe a different single sub that I can run on smaller air space or another SD-3. That I haven't decided upon yet.

Any ideas.

Oh and be gentle on this old f'er keep in mind I'm using my rekindled love of car audio to help me  in getting out on my off days and working on my own form of physical therapy after a bad accident last year leaving me with a broken femur and hip and ribs after already dealing with a previous accident's injuries from over a decade ago that left me with a broken back. So as basic as this may be it took everything inside me to complete this. I'm hoping it's only going to get easier over time... I do appreciate the little bit of love I've gotten here at the SSA forum. Aaron you've helped more than you realize. I tend not to mention this BS but I really know that with the right range of motion and more tools I could do something I'd be more proud of but hey I can be proud of this right now because this time last year I was in a hospital bed and I wasn't able to walk again until about 3 months ago and even then I've used crutches or a cane. Yeah life sucks sometimes!!

Edited November 19, 2018 by ATX.WeenR
F#*k I always forget my email attachments too!!

[ATX.WeenR 5]

Now that I look at the pics it's kinda hard to see what's going on but....

 

Keep in mind I put a plastic drop cloth under the amp rack so as to get the wires cut to length and not just absolutely kill the trunk mat with tiny pieces of wire and sawdust. I can't be the only person to ever deal with this!

[j-roadtatts 1,129]

Sounds like you are on the right track. My suggestion would be replace your battery terminals first. Then run a new ground from the battery to the engine block, and another ground to the body. Would probably reconnect the factory ground to the battery also. If you don't want to fork for fancy terminals that except multiple large wires, then use an RV/boat style terminal.

Other than that, get a wire wheel for your drill and buff all ground connection points to shiny bare metal. That includes any factory ground points also. 

As far as grounding in the trunk. I would drill a hole all the way through the trunk floor. Somewhere you can get to from the outside also. Then use a bolt with a lock nut on the underside. 

Let me know if you need pics.

[ATX.WeenR 5]

2 hours ago, j-roadtatts said:

Sounds like you are on the right track. My suggestion would be replace your battery terminals first. Then run a new ground from the battery to the engine block, and another ground to the body. Would probably reconnect the factory ground to the battery also. If you don't want to fork for fancy terminals that except multiple large wires, then use an RV/boat style terminal.

Other than that, get a wire wheel for your drill and buff all ground connection points to shiny bare metal. That includes any factory ground points also. 

As far as grounding in the trunk. I would drill a hole all the way through the trunk floor. Somewhere you can get to from the outside also. Then use a bolt with a lock nut on the underside. 

Let me know if you need pics.

Man you are definitely speaking the word here! When I first discovered that I was having a ground issue was when I changed my ground to go to a larger sub amp thinking I would need a better (possibly) more direct connection to the same chassis metal that the battery negative was grounded to so I drilled through the floor of the trunk in the spare tire well into what is obviously sheet metal stamped around the frame. It's what I consider an obvious frame member because it's even reminds me of the old Chevy truck "ladder" type framework. I drilled down a couple inches and then actually took my angle grinder and ground down into the paint and then took my Dremel tool and with a wire brush I kinda polished it up a bit just so it wasn't freshly ground metal and to ensure that I got any tiny paint particles out of the way. This was the worst ground I had the whole time!  Which still confuses the living shit out of me because like you're thinking that should be the BEST ground I could possibly have. One thing I did not do though was to drive a bolt all the way through like I think you  are talking about and that may in fact be what makes that even yet the best place for a ground. So I will try your advice and see what happens.  The only thing I'm dreading is that there is a plate of some sort under the car that hides the frame of the car from being easily accessible so I think I'm going to have to go in through the wheel well and maybe drive the bolt sideways though I'd rather do it vertically. Either way I'm gonna try it when I get ahold of the drill bit and the bolt I need to do it! lol That's gonna be a chore! but the outcome might be awesome! I swear man I was getting ZERO output out of the VFL 2k amp and it would show a green light up until the first bass note would hit and then it would switch right into protect mode so I quickly pulled the battery and tried again.. and again... and again... until I had swiss chees for a trunk! lol J/K... So wish me luck.. 

 

And I REALLY appreciate the help..

[j-roadtatts 1,129]

I’d find a spot in the trunk/bottom of the car that you can feel both sides at the same time with each hand. That’s the spot! You won’t even need a helper to put the nut on. 

I suspect the grounds under the hood are mostly at fault at this point. Sounds like the ground in the trunk is at least satisfactory.

The battery ground to engine/battery ground to body/amp to body. Those are the ONLY control points. If those are done, the amp ground is basically “independent” from the car ground so to speak. 

Make sure to use the same size wire for all grounds. So if your amp uses 0ga, use 0ga for the under hood grounds. Reconnect the factory ground to the battery also. VOILÀ!!