# My JL amp is still overheating, HELP...droppinbottom?



## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

Hey, I bought my JL 300/4 amp used and when I had my original speakers hooked to it, I noticed it would get really, really hot after extended use. I recently replaced all the speakers with bostons and I thought that solved my heating problems. Well, I was working on my car for a few hours with the radio going and near the end, all my mids cut out. I only had the sub going. I looked at the amp and no lights were on. Now usually when a JL overheats, I thought the "thermal" light would turn on or something, but instead all the lights were off. I put my hand on the amp and it was like a hot plate, I have no idea why this is still happening, JL amps aren't known for this.

I know the remote wire was fine b/c the other MTX amp powering my sub was fine and the sub was still going. Any help?


----------



## Russia (Jul 24, 2003)

Did the seller of the used Amp give u a good reason for selling it?


----------



## Token Moron (Mar 28, 2003)

Russia said:


> Did the seller of the used Amp give u a good reason for selling it?



yea, i detect a faulty product was sold......


----------



## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

It was droppinbottom who sold it to me. His brother sold off his entire system when he moved to college or sold his car or something. He's an honest guy, he's on here alot selling stuff. I think the problem might have been in the mail. When I first got it, the guy at the post office takes the box from the back and plops it down on the counter right in front of me. I wanted to kill him... I can't imagine what it went through b/c of the USPS. I jus wanna know why it's doing this, is there anything I can check or should I bring it in?


----------



## Token Moron (Mar 28, 2003)

where r u grounding the amp to?


----------



## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

AjRaCeR805 said:


> where r u grounding the amp to?


there's a bolt that holds the rear seat to the car. Im thinking of shaving down the paint a bit tho. The other amp is grounded to the same bolt on the opposite side and it's running fine.


----------



## Slayer2003 (Jun 4, 2003)

heres an idea. did ya check the wiring, as in all of it? i had the same thing, only with my cheepo fog lights, thought the bulbs were bad, bought new bulbs, but they kept flickering out. one day they finally died, and i was taking them out, and where the fuse box used to be, was a lump of melted plastic. the fuse was fine, but the holder had shorted n melted.

....so, maybe your not out a JL amp, just a connector, wire overheating or melting, faulty fuse, etc.


----------



## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

Slayer2003 said:


> heres an idea. did ya check the wiring, as in all of it? i had the same thing, only with my cheepo fog lights, thought the bulbs were bad, bought new bulbs, but they kept flickering out. one day they finally died, and i was taking them out, and where the fuse box used to be, was a lump of melted plastic. the fuse was fine, but the holder had shorted n melted.
> 
> ....so, maybe your not out a JL amp, just a connector, wire overheating or melting, faulty fuse, etc.


that's a bit different. I know the wiring is fine, I've played with the main power cables many times since the amp's installation (it goes straight to the battery). The speaker wires are all fine too, I know every wire coming out and where it runs and when I installed my new speakers, I re-did the wiring at the ends. If it isn't an internal problem, it can only be the grounding location I've chosen and I'm very certain the grounding point is aok.


----------



## wes (Apr 30, 2002)

What speakers are you running to it and what is the impedence load? Amps thermal typically because they are not well venilated or because they have too much of a load. Also what are your gains set at? If you have ahead unit with a nice output with good voltage your gains should be set low.


----------



## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

They're all bostons with 4ohm coils. I got 4V pre-outs and the amp is set to the correct input level. I'm not sure how the gain is set tho.


----------



## sr20dem0n (Mar 19, 2003)

the input level is the gain...
?

how is the amp mounted?


----------



## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

sr20dem0n said:


> the input level is the gain...
> ?
> 
> how is the amp mounted?


Then I guess the gain is fine.

It's mounted to the rear seat. Plenty of ventilation in the trunk, nothing touching it.


----------



## sr20dem0n (Mar 19, 2003)

hmmm
my amps get hot but they never cut out. Actually my US Acoustics used to cut out, but then again I hated that amp in every way imaginable. Have you opened up the case to see if anything is shorted or blown inside?


----------



## wickedsr20 (Aug 8, 2002)

It's a bit odd that your highs are cutting out with this amp in place. Your highs should not be loading this amp down close to enough to cause it to produce this kind of heat in an open trunk. My guess is that your protection circuitry is working properly, but something inside the amp itself (possibly some of your output power transistors) is acting up. Try running just your fronts for about 1 or 2 hours continuous music one day after the amp is real cool and see how hot it gets. Then do the same test on a different day with just the rears while the amp is cool. It might be an indicator if you have one or two overworked channels if the amp gets hotter one way vs. the other.

If all else fails, you may want to have it checked out by a dealer.


----------



## wes (Apr 30, 2002)

*Agree*

It should not be thermal if your running a 4 ohm load on each channel. So none of the channels are bridged in any way and there are no subs running off the amp? 

I would follow th posted advice of connecting only your front channels and seeing if it thermals then.


----------



## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

Ya, it's gotta be something inside. It's 4 channel and 4 speakers being run off it. I believe it's safe up to 1.2ohm or something (it said in the specs) and each speaker is 4ohm coil. No bridge, and the sub is run off of a different amp (I only had my sub for 4 days now and this has been a problem for much longer). I may jus have it serviced when I can. It takes several hours to heat up. It cut out after about 3.5 continuous hours.

Would low input voltage cause it to heat up? When I was installing the carpet, I had the radio on for 3 hours straight w/o restarting the car (oops). When I was done, I jus barely had enough voltage to get the car to turn over. I'm not saying this is the actual problem b/c it does this evn when the voltage is good, Jus wondering.


----------



## SentraStyleEMW (Aug 15, 2002)

If you can't find the problem...bring it in and I'll swap it out for you.


----------



## droppinbottom (Jun 30, 2003)

whats up 1997ga16de. sorry havent been around in a while. i dont know what could be going on with that amp. my brother didnt have any problems with it before he moved but that doesnt fix the problems you are having. i have read all the posts and it sounds like your wiring is fine. if you havent redone your ground yet i would try that but honestly if it was the ground it should be doing it all the time. if you can get the amp checked out and we will try to work out something on the amp. i didnt know of anything being wrong with it when i sold it to you and i know you have mentioned the problem every since you got it. send me a email sometime and let me know if you find anything out. dont want you or anybody to think i did something dirty. peace


----------



## Punkrocka436 (Jul 8, 2003)

Who knows, maybe your protection LED went out....i know its rare for LED's to burn out, but it would be another thing to check if your still stumped


----------

