The shield of the RCA has a blown fuse on the bottom of the circuit board? I never knew RCA's had fuses, much less circuit boards... I'm not doubting that what was written at all, I just dont follow :) I cant remember when I had a test light like that!!
Last night, I worked on it extensively. First, I ran an 8guage 12v+ and ground from the battery in the trunk to the center console and then connected the wires to distribution blocks installed in the middle of the console. From there, I ran 12guage 12v+ and ground directly to the radio, to the ESP3, and then a separate ground to a bolt in the the metal frame in which the radio sits. The main 8guage wires that I ran from the battery are twisted together, and look pretty cool (if only looks would solve the problem!). The connections at the radio were done so that the stronger direct 12v and ground feeds were connected to the radio and the factory harness. After doing this, there was still noise. I tried it even without any contact with the factory harness and there was still noise.
Next, I bypassed the RCAs I ran by using some spares lying around from a couple of old Schoche wiring kits (walmart specials) that some customers had once upon a time. the RCA's were draped through the middle of the car to the trunk and then to the amp. Nothing changed. However, what I noted was that when I moved those RCAs while the car was running (moved them = pick them up from where they were laying about 18inches and move them towards the drivers door as if to simulate routing the signal somewhere else other than down the center), there was a change in the noise and at one point, it actually went away, albeit briefly. I noticed that as I held them suspended in the air and moved them around, the noise intensity changed. So, I shut everything down and quickly routed the RCAs along the drivers side of the vehicle. My thought was that something in the center console area was interfering with the signal from the radios. I havent had that problem before in other installations like this but I didnt know what may have changed in 2007 model cars (if anything!). When I got done and restarted the car, the noise was still there. So at that point, I had systematically bypassed the ESP3 as well as the RCAs, grounding of the radio, and power to the radio and stll have noise.
Finally, I pulled out my DEH-P860MP from my F150. This radio has worked wonderfully in the truck: no noise, no issues except for occasionally the motorized face wants to act-a-fool and not open on demand. The sound output is great. So no problems with this unit. I put it in the car thinking that this would work and still, STILL, I have noise, even with the "other" RCAs run, even with the new ground and power, and even with just the old RCAs. So the bottom line is that I had no success.
Now, I did not examine the ground from the alternator to the chassis but I did look at the ground from the battery to the chssis and I didnt really care for it. I havent changed it yet only b/c it was late last night, nearly midnight before I got through and I have a 5:30 rise in the morning (er, this morning). The ground is a 4guage cable running from the batter to a piece of metal about maybe 1/8 inch thick coming up from the trunk floor behind the spare tire (like right next to the back wall). There's a bolt securing the cable to this piece of metal. It maybe perfect... I dont know yet. I didnt care for it, it looks too flimsy for me. Regardless though, when I come directly off of the negative of the battery with my ground wire to the amp and to the radio, I am bypassing that anyway. So, would it make a difference?
Also, I know the "rule of thumb" (anyone ever see the movie Boondock Saints?? if you havent watch it--not only is it really cool but it has this whole "rule of thumb" scene in it) is to run the amp ground no more than 18inches from the amp... or so I've read and have been told. In spite of that, my amp's ground (and 12v+ for that matter) is 8guage wire, 6feet directly to the battery. Would that cause/contribute to the problem?
I hate to think that all of a sudden, the amp developed noise. I dont have a 2nd amp to try. I might be able to run RCAs to my wifes Memphis 3004 or to the Kicker ZX460 in my truck using barrel connectors and so on, to try to play the signal through another system that way?? I'm grasping at ideas at this point b/c I dont know what to do. I've run into one other vehicle like this in 20 yrs of doing car audio work. That was a 95 BMW Mark III from California. A fellow installer and I had the task of redoing everything in the vehicle. No matter what corner we turned, what we used, or anything, that car was cursed with noise from hell.
so which way now? and thanks so much for the replies to this. I can take pictures of any of this if anyone wants to see them.