For anyone that's good at troubleshooting stereo systems...

[chaotik]

Alternator whine is usually a bad ground... Probably a factory corroded one... Also check the ground from your battery to the vehicle.

And a word of advice... NEVER go back to any audio shop you went too. First thing they should have said was a probable ground issue

 

[feslope]

Thanks again, everyone. I think I need a new ground...but how to go about this? How do you troubleshoot where the ground has gone bad? Is this really a problem that is going to be too big of a hassle/expense to diagnose and fix? That's what I'm afraid of...

I'm still thinking alternator but I seem to be outnumbered by the "Ground" camp. Vehicles are usually commonly grounded by connecting the parts of the car together by wires or metal braids. A good place to start is at the battery, trace the ground (Black Wire) from there. You should see a ground wire connecting the alternator to the battery and attach somewhere to the engine. Usually there will be braids connecting the engine to the frame and body. These will be your exposed ground connections and be likely spots to have a ground problem. The frame connection may be under the engine/body and require a hoist to view from underneath.

A skilled high end mobile electronics/electrical shop should be able to diagnose this problem in short order. The fact that you hear this when you play a CD eliminates ignition or a shielding break. My bet is on ground or AC (Alternator) leak.

Please get this fixed quickly so we can all breath a sigh of relief. :dunno:

 

[spike]

Please get this fixed quickly so we can all breath a sigh of relief. :dunno:

You and me both!! It's just one of those things that really nags at you, you know? And is very annoying!!