ok, here's the problem. my amp keeps shutting down and the protection light comes on for about 5 seconds then the amp will kick back in for one beat then shut off again, over and over. i have a Cutting Edge CE4F that i had in my other Z before i wrecked it.
Now I've rechecked all the wire connections and even relocated the ground wire to a different connection point, but that doesn't help. It's not over heating either, it's mounted under the seat. And I've messed with the Level adjustment to different settings, now it's turned down low. If anyone can offer any ideas, I'd appreciate it.

This is what the owners manual says for the amp protection light to come on.
Thermal Protection: if the temp exceeds a safe operating level
Overload: if electrical current demands exceed safe level (can be caused by low impedances or by incorrect input level adjusment)
Short Circuit: if a short circuit condition exists (can be caused by poor insulation or by a damaged voice coil)
D.C. Offset Protection: if an unsafe D.C. offset condition on the amplifier output exists, in order to avoid further damage to the speakers

 

Was this working before, or did you just install it? what kind of amp is it? sub, 4 ch? Take off all the speaker output wires, and just wire one speaker to it, see if it can drive this without thermal shutdown, if not your amp or basic hookup is bad somehow. Are you using rca input or line level?

 

Here's the setup, it's a 4 chanel amp - 500w, 250w x 2ch, I only have it pushing the sub. I have a rca converter connected to the rear speakers, then the rca goes to the amp. do you think the rca wires could be causing the problem?
this is an existing setup from my old car, it worked in there. the only difference is it has different rca cables and the sub is under the seat intead of in the compartment behind the drivers seat.

 

UPDATE: went to a local car audio shop and asked them, they said it might be a short somewhere. so we went out and tested the sub and that was it. They think that the voice coil in the sub is bad. so I went to mobile one and got a 10" kenwood dual voice coil sub. I'll test it out tonight.

 

it does sound like a short, for it to go out that quickly.