clicking or ticking noise with engine on

I have recently installed a system in a boat (specifics below). with the engine off everything sounds great. when the engine is on there is a clicking noise coming through the speakers (maybe two or three clicks per second). the volume of the clicks does NOT go up as the stereo volume is turned up. I am running about 16 feet of 4G wire to a storage closet where everything is housed. 4G ground goes all the way back to the battery. Both wires come to distribution blocks where they are split to about 2 ft 8G wire powering 3 amps. The head unit is currently grounded to the dash wiring harness ------ I am going to ground this to the distribution block with the rest of the amps The RCA cables I am using are the cheap Radio Shack type -------- I am going to replace these with shielded cables. Currently I have all three blue remote turn-on leads tied to a single lead from the head unit ----- I am going to add a relay switch here I have tried to run power wires and speaker wires separate but because of the limitations of this being a boat they must run together at times ---------- not much of an option here but I suppose I can temporarily separate them to see if that is the problem. My problem with troubleshooting it is that it is currently in storage about 200 miles away, there are no stores or internet access anywhere near the lake. Also it must be in water or have water source to run the engine. Because of this my troubleshooting attempts will be part of me camping trips. I want to go out with all possibilities the first time out as it is not practical to try one thing at a time. Am I on track with the above mentioned points? also what else should I try? Any and all possibilities please. Thanks Sony CDX M60UI Head Unit Kicker 400.1 mono (with remote bass controller) two 10" Kicker Comp 4 ohm subs (150 rms) Alpine PDX F4 (4 x 100 rms @ 4ohm) two Rockford Fosgate T1652-S 6 1/2 component speakers (100 rms) two Rockford Fosgate T1692 6 x 9's (100 rms) Kenwood KAC-5204 (2 x 60 rms @ 4 ohm) two Polk DXI 651 6 1/2 coaxial (100 rms)

Try grounding your RCA's at the head unit. Take a piece of wire tie it on to a screw thats on the back of the head unit. On the other end strip like an inch of insulation and just wrap your RCAs with it. that might stop the noise. Hope this helps good luckNo better feeling then getting a remote start to work right!

Does the clicking/ticking sound speed up if you rev the engine?  If so, my vote is for a bad spark plug wire.

i am an idiot wrote: Does the clicking/ticking sound speed up if you rev the engine?  If so, my vote is for a bad spark plug wire.

Ditto.  Or a poorly shielded ECU.

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i am an idiot wrote: Does the clicking/ticking sound speed up if you rev the engine?  If so, my vote is for a bad spark plug wire.

No, the speed of the ticking remains constant. the volume of the ticking also remains constant regardless of how high the volume on the stereo is set. I can turn up the volume so that I no longer hear the tick. Its OK when at speed because it needs to be loud anyway, not so much at idle or slow speeds.

jpadj22, I will try grounding the RCA's. Anyone other suggestions?

What do you mean by Cheap Radio Shack ones?  Are you using speaker wire with RCA connections on each end? 

You need to determine where the noise is entering the system.  I am assuming ALL speakers are running on the amps.  What happens if you disconnect the rca's from the amps, does the clicking remain?  What happens if you hook a speaker to the decks inboard amp, does it click?  Is the noise on all sources, cd and radio?  Is it coming from EVERY SPEAKER?

Start by running the deck without the amps, hooked to a temporary speaker, if no clicks add one amp....... etc. etc.  use the process of elimination and let us know.

i am an idiot wrote: What do you mean by Cheap Radio Shack ones?  Are you using speaker wire with RCA connections on each end?

No, I am using the inexpensive RED / white RCA's usually used for home stereo components. I don't know if they are shielded or not but I don't think they are.

ac0j.... I have not tried that yet as I have had very little time with it with the engine running. I am going to the lake this weekend and will try everything you suggested.