Amp draining battery

[Freeman1193 aero]

Hi all I’m new to this forum. Had a 9-3 aero for almost 2 years now. Gotta say it’s the best car I’ve ever driven. Just one small recent fault that’s bugging me is. The amp ( located in rear boot compartment on near side ) seems to be draining power from the battery when the car is stood. If I remove the fuse for the amp the drain stops. I was hoping someone else may have experienced something similar and found a reasonably cheap solution thanks in advance, Richard.

[Digger]

Having a spare rear amp sitting on my office floor I can tell you that the most reasonably cheap solution is to swap amps and see if it resolves the problem. Don't know what a good used amp from a scrapper sells for on your side of the pond, but on this side of the pond they are relatively inexpensive.

[Freeman1193 aero]

Hi, ironically this is a used replacement. The amp that was in when I bought the car didn’t work at all. I’m thinking of going with an after market replacement as buying another used for £100 is a risk I’d rather not take. Could anyone recommend an alternative amp that would fit ? Thanks again.

[Digger]

Hi, ironically this is a used replacement. The amp that was in when I bought the car didn’t work at all. I’m thinking of going with an after market replacement as buying another used for £100 is a risk I’d rather not take. Could anyone recommend an alternative amp that would fit ? Thanks again.

So I looked this up in US Dollars and as I don't have any idea what kind of cars fill the UK scrap yards I'm not sure what to suggest. Your Saab has a GM radio system and that means GM radio parts work in your Saab. GM changed almost all their part numbers for parts used in Saab and tripled the prices to fit the new part numbers. This is a Bose amp that was used in Pontiacs, GMC's Hummers, Chevy's ect. and this part number should give you a good cross-reference 15236415 for UK stereo shops. Have no idea what will plug and go for this system as these parts are cheep and plentiful on my side of the pond, but the big stereo upgrade subwoofer cars usually have a Sony amp stuffed in the back if that helps any.

[Kazamario]

Correct Digger, that metal rear deck is a killer place to mount amps.

Here's the issue, splicing into the factory wiring. If you're saavy in that dept, then you're good to go, but also remember the rms wattage to each speaker is low and you need to wire correctly for impedenance.

TL;DR - Unless you match everything perfectly, you will pop the factory speakers eventually, or possibly ruin your SQ splicing into factory with an aftermarket amp.

Best bet is to replace the OEM one, and have it shipped over if you can't find one at a 'yard.

*Had fully upgraded aftermarket system in my Aero, know a bit about this stuff *

Let us know if you have anymore questions!

[Kazamario]

As for an amp that will fit, as long as it has enough channels you'd be ok, you have the AS3 in there?

That has x3 3in front speakers | x4 6.5in door speakers | x2 6x9in Parcel Deck speakers

So your AM amp would need at least 6 channels to run all that goodness, as you'd wire the dash ones to the deck.

Then you'd need some line converters, and some other bits. This gets somewhat complicated if you decide to splice into factory wiring.

AND - for an aftermartket amp install - you'd need to run power, ground, remote, and RCAs (Power and Signal always on seperate sides, unless you get a deck that has an optical out (no ground loop noise!).

[Kazamario]

Here's a new OEM one for about tree-fiddy from EEuro (maybe cheaper in the long run than going AM):

https://www.eeuroparts.com/Parts/901...fier-12800531/