Every now and then when I’m driving all of the electrical components in the car ie. radio, lights, blower etc. will cut out everytime i press the brake pedal. It will be out for about 2 seconds and then come back on again.
Does anyone have any ideas??
Could improper grounding cause this?
Need a lot more info…
MM&Y of car?
Does it only happen when stepping on the brake?
Does the engine keep running when the accessories cut out?
Do the accessories come back on even if you are still stepping on the brake, or not until you take your foot off the brake?
The only thing I can think of right now is to check the main accessory fuse, [upper right hand corner of under dash fuse box, under plastic cover] make sure the fuse is screwed in snugly, also check the output from your ign. switch, acc. yellow , connect a test light, [even a 12V light bulb] to the yellow lead and place test light where you can see it, step on brake so/till accessories cut out, if test light is also out, replace your ign. switch, just the switch, not the key cylinder, steering lock or housing.
If the test light does not go out, the ign. switch is not your problem.
Maybe even check and make sure the brake lever is not “pushing” any part of the under dash wiring harness, or possibly some aftermarket wiring harnesses/cables.
Make sure, all wiring harness plugs that plug into and around under dash fuse box are properly plugged in.
Let me know:corn:94
It’s a 91 rs…
It doesn’t happen everytime I drive the car…
It’ll just start up randomly, and continue until I’ve turned the car off and then restarted.
The electrical cuts out at the slightest touch of the brake pedal so any harness interference is out of the question.
It cuts out for about 2 seconds and then comes back on regardless if my foot is still on the brake pedal or if I have taken it off.
The car still runs fine, it doesn’t stall or anything… the radio just resets and the lights inside and out as well as dash clock cut out and then come right back on a couple seconds later.
There has been no sign of the engine or battery light coming on… so i’m baffled.
What do you mean by, “and the lights inside and out”?
When you say the radio resets itself, do you mean you loose the presets, or it just turns off and then comes back on at the station you had it on?
Same question for the dash clock, does it reset to 1:00 or just turn off and back on again with the right time?
If they just turn off and come back on again at the right station and time, it is the ACC. circuit that is intermittent, if you loose the station presets and clock comes back on at 1:00 it is the constant power circuit, [memory].
Have you checked any of the things I first suggested?:hmm:94
By inside lights i’m referring to the gauge backlight as well as any other swithes that may be engaged…
And no… nothing resets I should have worded that better…
The radio cuts out and then returns to the same state that it was…
Same with the clock… the time does not reset back to 1:00 it just goes out and then comes back on…
I haven’t had a chance to check the items you listed I’m going to do that later today…
I’ll keep you posted
Thanks
Robert
My 97 GSR was doing the exact same thing, its nuts. Turned out I had about 10X more resistance in my grounds than normal and my alternator was on its last leg. Having replaced the alt, it still happens randomly but not nearly as often as before.
The hard thing is that the car doesn’t do it consistently or " on command" in order to diagnose the problem…
The car could go for a week or two without any problems and then suddenly it’ll start up again while I’m driving… and by that time It’s kinda tough to just pull over and do some testing…
But oh well I’ll keep at it…
My first instinct was that it was the alternator playing up but only time will tell
I’ll keep you all posted
It is not your alt.:whisper:
You have 2 problems, the dash light circuit and the acc. circuit, they are two totally diff. circuits, the lights are a constant power circuit, [hot at all times, before light switch] the acc. is a switched circuit, [ign. switch], I would look closely at the dash harness plugs in and around the fuse box, make sure they are plugged in properly, unplug them and inspect the pins for corrosion, if the pins are clean, plug them in again, making sure the “lock” into place.
94
You could have a short. I would make sure you have the right size fuses and right size brake bulbs to start if its only when you press the brake.
I worked on a car once when he had a short in the rear and had the wrong size fuse which made the wires hotter and stared melting. Dash radio ect was flashing when he hit the brakes. Had to rip dash out to fix melted wires ect…
I was having similar problems this past weeked, except my car wouldnt want to start at times. I was going to check the grounds and whatnot. What i did was clean the battery terminals and sanded them down. I also cleaned and sanded the connecters. Havent had a problem yet.
Now suddenly my brake light isn’t working… but ever since it has stopped working the electrical cutting out has not been a problem.
Which fuse controls the brake light and how many amps should it be…
Also how many amps should the main accessory fuse be…
thanks again for the help
So I took a look under the hood and the horn/brake light fuse has blown…I don’t understand why? It was a 20 amp as specified…
If there is only the horn and brake light running off this fuse how could it blow…
I replaced the fuse and now I’m back to the same problem as before…the electrical cuts out for a split second when the brake pedal is pushed…
Obviously the brake light is causing the main accessory fuse to trip…
I’m stuck here… what other options do i have??
Does anyone have a diagram of the underdash fusebox with a listing of which size fuses are supposed to be where etc.
thanks again
Rob
If the brake light fuse blew it was because there is a short in the circuit or the load is higher then the fuses rating.
The only way the load would be higher is if you have added something to the circuit, like connecting something to the brake light circuit or the lighter circuit.
To narrow down the problem start by unplugging the lighter, if the problem still exists, plug the lighter back in and unplug the brake light switch and see what happens, if problem still there, plug the brake light switch back in and unplug the rear harness, [at/around under dash fuse box.
Let me know what happens.:dozing: 94
my car was doing the same thing, to the point where I needed someone driving in front of me so they can jump my car every time my car died when I pressed the brakes…for me it turned out that I had to sand down my battery terminals etc, to ensure electric connectivity. You should check your battery for oxidation.