ST-R - stereo restarts when I press the brake

[bradc]

So I'm cruising along a section of raod today littered with 35kmh corners cranking up Seek and Destroy when I hit the brakes (not too hard or anything) and the stereo restarts itself and the song starts again after 5 seconds or so. Coming up to the next corner it does the same thing, this time I'm watching and the screen goes black the second I touch the brake pedal and the stereo restarts just like I had fired up the car from being off.

I tried it a few more times, touching the brake pedal very lightly, ie not enough to actually slow the car but enough to light up the brake lights and the stereo would do the same thing.

Strangely though after I had parked the car up and went to where I was going, it fixed itself, and I drove the entire way home, around 80km, without any problems at all. Bounced around a few corners and had the tyres squealing too, also managed to get the brake pedal a bit spongey, which isn't a minor feat considering I've stock VR-4 calipers and discs all round with newish pads and fluid.

Any ideas?

 

[Guest]

loose earth some were under the dash????

Try to load up the electrics ie put on all the interior lights the air con on full and press the brakes again and see if it happens again. If not add the head lights in as well and see if it switches off if the first happens have a look at all the earth points under the dash and tighten all the bolts. If the latter have a look at all the earth points in the engine bay and tighten them as well.

IMO but not too sure that will be the cause???

 

[Scottie]

Is it a new install or has the stereo been there for ages?

 

[bradc]

The stereo has been there since I got the car, approx 26,000km and 1.5 years.

Tom, I don't think it would be a short because as I said it suddenly fixed itself when the car was turned off and didn't happen again. The last few km's of the journey were fairly quite and slow and it was still doing it when I pulled into the car park.

The annoying thing is that it will probably fix itself for the next few months and then break again when I'm going on a long drive

 

[pu-11-me]

Hey Brad, do you know whether the fuse for the brake light switch (as in, the one on the pedal) is on the same circuit as that for your HU?

Could be the fuse is "half blown" and cannot carry enough current across the lines causing a HU restart from low voltage?

Had the same thing happen to an amp of mine. The fuse was as good as blown, and looked fine but could carry enough current to power it on, but not make it amplify any noise....

At least its working at the moment

EDIT* - And this can be intermittent too.... As i found out the hard way with my amp. Really wanted to kill someone over it lol...

 

[bradc]

Hmm at times I had the stereo quite quiet and other times quite loud and the sound quality was never affected and it didn't matter at all about whether it was loud or quiet. Good idea though!

 

[naughtika]

Brad, could it be possible that your battery's dying and in need of replacement?!

I think the car turns off the accessories rather than some crucial hardware.. what i'm saying is, could it be possible that the battery can't provide enough current that it momentarily shuts off the accessories..

but another question is, does it only happen to the stereo or to some other equipment as well?

 

[Guest]

the battery is only used to start the car, the alternator is used whilst the car is running (unless you are drawing more than 90A)

 

[bradc]

The battery is near new, Kristian bought it for me as a present when he broke my battery last year (waits for the response from Kristian!)

The thing that seemed strange to me was that for one trip it happened everytime, then for the next trip it didn't do it once.

I'll check the voltage on the battery though when the car is running.

 

[Guest]

I wasnt so clear before...... If you dont have a good earth connection it wont cause a short just a voltage drop as the current wont be able to pass through as easy and the accessories that need a minimum voltage like the stereo will switch off. The lights and fans will just run slower or less bright but the stereo will switch off as it needs a minimum 12v. When you were pressing the brakes the brake lights would have been using just enough to produce the voltage drop and causing the stereo to restart.

 

[Guest]

I wasnt so clear before...... If you dont have a good earth connection it wont cause a short just a voltage drop as the current wont be able to pass through as easy and the accessories that need a minimum voltage like the stereo will switch off. The lights and fans will just run slower or less bright but the stereo will switch off as it needs a minimum 12v. When you were pressing the brakes the brake lights would have been using just enough to produce the voltage drop and causing the stereo to restart.

i'm with tommo.. the brakes are a very big drain on the electrical system, and it sounds like a loose earth.

when my alternator died, the stereo, etc.. went off when i touched the brakes.

 

[bradc]

Well I checked the alternator today and it was pumping out 14v, so that seems right. Didn't have enough time to check all the fuses and ground points. Still seems strange to me that it restarted everytime I touched the brake pedal, then after the car had been off for a few hours it fixed itself and came right.

 

[Guest]

HU restarting

Hi, I've been browsing the forum for a couple of weeks now. Just recently purchased a Legnum vr4 '99. I love it.

I know the brake rotors were changed before I bought the car, and HID lights were installed (low beam only). I thought it a minor problem at the time, but will be taking it to an autoelectrician to tidy up the HID installation and to find the problem causing the HU restarting when hitting the brakes. I found that it was temperamental at best but will always start cutting out when I put the fog lights on.

Dunno, just thought I'd add to the convo and introduce myself in the process. Will post pics of my Legnum tomorrow.

 

[Kristian]

The battery is near new, Kristian bought it for me as a present when he broke my battery last year (waits for the response from Kristian!)

The thing that seemed strange to me was that for one trip it happened everytime, then for the next trip it didn't do it once.

I'll check the voltage on the battery though when the car is running.

Haha, I was gonna say maybe the battery is dodgy!

That old battery, I'd never seen anything quite like it

 

[bradc]

Hetz, thanks for the update, probably the same problem we are both having. To this day the ST-R only has this issue about 30% of the time, and when it does happen it will happen every single time the brake is touched for the entire trip, then after a days rest it will fix itself and work fine again.

 

[Guest]

Brad, yup that sounds a lot like what happens with the leggie. Doesn't happen as often now though. Strange.