I have the premium sound system in my FG manual XR8. It's developed an alarming random explosive sound. Its so loud it scares the crap out of anyone sitting in the car who hears it for the first time. Amazingly it happens even with the stereo off! The car can be stationary with just the key turned to accessories. It can occur when listening to CD's, FM radio or MP3 player through the auxiliary jack, or nothing at all. The sound reminds me of the crackling noise from an AM radio when there's thunderstorms around but its very loud - can't have a conversation with anyone in the car when it happens. It comes from all four speakers regardless of the balance and fade settings. It can last a second or rumble away for ten seconds. It can happen once in a ten minute trip or every minute or not at all. Its nothing to do with vehicle motion. A friend said it might be low battery voltage but he put a battery tester on it - all OK. He also suggested my DVD headrests, caravan brake controller or rear view monitor might produce some electrical discharge from a capacitor that is picked up and amplified by the stereo. Took out the monitor - no solution. And the sound happens when the DVD players are on or off. The brake controller is supposed to send a signal to the caravan brakes only when the car is decelerating under brakes but the noise happens at any time.

I'm going to pull the fuse next just to get rid of the noise but I love listening to music so that's not the preferred solution. Any ideas?

Does your vehicle have an amplifier? Could it be a connection or grounding issue on that?
My car has the premium sound system an the amp sits in the boot.

I guy at work had this problem. Also a manual FG XR8, hmmmmm.

Sounds bloody terrible, I was in the car once when it did it. He said it was driving him crazy and I can understand why. His also did it, like yours, even when turned off. Just totally random.

After a few useless visits to Ford and a few others to auto sparky's he eventually replaced the whole ICC and it's fixed now.

Hi
Ive got the exact same problem in my 09 fg xr6 turbo. Have you sorted it? We think it may be alternator related or the icc is stuffed

I know it's been a long time but has anyone been able to fix this? It started recently in my car, G6E with premium ICC. Scares the hell out of me!

i don't know re FG's ..... but when the BA/BF do it .. it's the ICC rear plug connection where the plug joins the circuit board. called "dry solder joints".