Stereo turns off, lights dim, + more

[tonyloban]

To start, the car drives fine. 88 vert. I have a new battery bought brand new. I bought the one that was recommended for my car, one of the smallest batteries for a car apparently. Maybe I just need a bigger battery.

The problem is, is that if the car is not on, the stereo sometimes turns on and off before music plays and just keeps doing that. If I turn on the car I can play the music up to about volume 23-25 without it turning on and off non stop, but if I'm driving and press the breaks, more often then not, stereo turns off and then on again.

Now when I turn on the lights, I can get the volume up to around 35 and the breaks usually don't affect it, but any louder, and the lights in the stereo start to dim with louder parts in the songs and it will start turning on and off again.

It's driving my nuts. The previous owner installed some stupid pioneer stereo thats labeled 4x50w. There are some non oem wires running from the stereo I'm pretty sure around the drivers side and into the back wall (I have been told the amp is there. Correct me if I'm wrong.)

Also, when putting my windows down or up, if I do more than one it's a lot slower and all 4 is just slug slow. If the lights are one, they dim more and more as I add window buttons. Where do I start good sirs? Is this common? I have not touched anything electrical on this car yet myself, but I have the electrical diagrams pdf for my model. Any help is appreciated!

[15Michaeljoseph]

well the PO fuckery with the radio is hard to resolve without being there in person.

what I can help you with is the window switch 'issue'. It's perfectly normal for the lights inside to dim a little when you roll the windows up and down. also, they go slower if you do them together. this is the case in my car, so nothing's wrong there.


--Mike

[tonyloban]

well the PO fuckery with the radio is hard to resolve without being there in person.

what I can help you with is the window switch 'issue'. It's perfectly normal for the lights inside to dim a little when you roll the windows up and down. also, they go slower if you do them together. this is the case in my car, so nothing's wrong there.


--Mike

My headlights dim. With two window switches they dim maybe 1/4 to a 1/3

[StereoInstaller1]

Bad alternator, lame battery or, most likely...PO stereo fuckery.

Got a DMM?

[Silver Wagon]

^^^ i'd go with a little bit of all of them.

i'd start with getting the alternator tested. you should be able to go to any parts store and they can test it for you, usually free. if the alternator is weak it won't charge the battery or have enough juice to run the car and accessories. my money is on a weak alternator.

next would be the PO's spaghetti.

last would be the battery, since you said you recently replaced it.

[AndrewBird]

A volt meter on the battery will tell you a lot. Should be 12.5+ volts with the engine off and 14+ volts with the engine running.

[Gregs///M]

Instead start with verifying proper grounding. It sounds like you are getting poor grounding.

The system grounds for the windows and radio are above the brake pedal, near the steering column. There are two 10mm nuts holding down several ring lugs with brown wires going to it.

Remove all lugs and clean them with wire brush, and re-secure it all. Also replace fuse 10, 12, and 21 with 7.5A fuses.

You will probably notice your windows operating quickly again and hopefully your radio problems go away too.

[tonyloban]

Bad alternator, lame battery or, most likely...PO stereo fuckery.

Got a DMM?

What is a DMM?


Other stereo update. Car has premium (or had :/ ) Drivers tweeter doesn't work, the right barely works. The rear speakers (one is pretty messed up) only give off lows, just about no mids if non at all coming from them (I have decent audio engineering experience) and I can't get a mid out of them at all (are they only meant to give off lows or should they have mids too?). The driver's side speaker is giving off significantly less volume/quality then the right. Basically, my passenger speaker is the only one worth listening to. PO sucks... a lot. I've read premium stock sound system is the beesknees compared to some other cars and I am very disappoint in having to deal with this.

I will get around to checking the alternator and grounds and give updates. Thanks a lot for the info!