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yttkuar Samba Member
Joined: November 16, 2014 Posts: 41 Location: Hot Springs, AR
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Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2021 7:52 am Post subject: Radio goes off when I brake |
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I have had my 71 Ghia for 5 years with no trouble. Normal maintenance as a rule. PO changed ignition to use a push button device in addition to the key, which is first turned on then push the button. No problem with that either. It beeps when I turn it on and beeps three times after I turn it off. Except this spring after I bled the brakes I noticed that when I step on the brakes, the radio goes off. As soon as I release the brake the radio comes back on. It does that every time and does not affect the running of the car at all. I also noticed that the turn signal indicator light is very dimly lit now, it never did that before either. I did no electrical work on the car at all other than the tune up as normal. I did have the battery out to charge. Everything is fine electrically. I wondered of it might have been the brake bleeding process? Anyone had a similar condition? |
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Era Vulgaris Samba Member
Joined: August 22, 2012 Posts: 1677 Location: Raleigh, NC
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Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2021 3:50 pm Post subject: Re: Radio goes off when I brake |
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I'd venture to say that everything isn't fine electrically
Is your radio sharing the same fused circuit as your brake light switches and your turn signal indicator? It sounds like it might be
(the two fuses that share the black wiring in the 71 wiring diagram)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/wiring/70-71ghia.jpg
It sounds like there's an issue somewhere with that circuit, and there's only so much current draw it can handle, which is why the radio is cutting out when you hit the brakes.
When is the last time you cleaned all of your electrical contacts, including ground contacts? It might be time. In the process of cleaning, you might also find that something isn't correctly connected, could be anything.
But bleeding brakes would be a coincidence, unless you unknowingly did something to the brake light switch contacts on the master cylinder. _________________ Currently own:
66 Karmann Ghia, L390 Gulf Blue, under construction, here: www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=760505&highlight=
99 Mazda MX-5 10AE, Sapphire Blue Mica, 6 speed, LSD
Previously owned:
98 Porsche Boxster, silver, 2.5L -- 67 Karmann Ghia, Black, 1500sp -- 98 BMW Z3, Atlanta Blue Metallic, 2.8L I6 -- 75 Porsche 914, Laguna Blue, 2270cc -- 72 Porsche 914, Signal Orange, 1.7 FI -- 74 Karmann Ghia, Black, 1600dp -- 74 Triumph TR6 with O.D., sapphire blue |
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yttkuar Samba Member
Joined: November 16, 2014 Posts: 41 Location: Hot Springs, AR
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Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2021 5:55 am Post subject: Re: Radio goes off when I brake |
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Thanks for the reply so quick. The PO installed the radio and the start button. All this time I have had it there was no problem. I did not mess with the master cylinder at all. I looked yesterday and the radio and brakes DO share the connection, so I will change it. I wonder tho, since they have shared it this long with no trouble, why it would cut off the radio when I brake? I do need to go through the fuse panel as you suggest. As they say, if its not broke don't fix it. Well, even doing regular maintenance in the spring, may have jarred something. I never have liked the button start the PO put in. I probably should find out why he did that too. No doubt it might have been not wanting to change the ignition switch. Thanks again. |
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Trylon Samba Member
Joined: August 16, 2019 Posts: 4853 Location: Connecticut
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Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2021 10:20 am Post subject: Re: Radio goes off when I brake |
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yttkuar wrote: |
. All this time I have had it there was no problem. |
Time is the problem.
It seems likely that over time some resistance has built up in the circuit that is preventing sufficient current to lit up your brake lights and run your radio at the same time. Don’t know if you are up for it but I would take great delight in using a multimeter to measure the resistance along different parts of the circuit and hunt down the problem!
Shy of that, clean and polish all the connections along it and you might get lucky. _________________ 1973 Porsche 914 2.0
1959 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia
1979 Volkswagen Rabbit
1973 Volkswagen Bus
1970 MGB-GT
1962 Oldsmobile Jetfire
More tomfoolery on
The Karmann Ghia Fever YouTube Channel! |
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hitest Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2008 Posts: 10296 Location: Prime Meridian, ID
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Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2021 1:02 pm Post subject: Re: Radio goes off when I brake |
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Ever hear the term, "the path of least resistance?"
That's what's happening here. It takes less current to light the taillights (a very amperage-tolerant circuit) than to power the radio (a very amp-sensitive circuit). You've probably already isolated the problem by re-dedicating the brake light power supply just for that purpose. Run a dedicated, fused line for the radio constant power- easy peasy. _________________
EverettB wrote: |
I wonder what the nut looks like.
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'62 L390 151, '62 L469 117, '63 L380 113, '64 L87 311, '65 L512 265, '65 L31 SO-42, '66 L360 251, '68 L30k 141, '71 L12 113, '74 ORG 181
FU#5 |
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yttkuar Samba Member
Joined: November 16, 2014 Posts: 41 Location: Hot Springs, AR
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Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2021 3:01 pm Post subject: Re: Radio goes off when I brake |
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Thanks to all 3 of your replies. It turned out to be a combination of your suggestions. I may have jiggled something while doing my regular maintenance that set it off. After doing a good cleaning of the contacts on the circuits and isolating the radio, it works good again. I even had a blown fuse in the mix for the tail lights. As I said before, this Ghia has been great over my 5 years with it, so this was a pretty easy fix. Thanks again. |
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Trylon Samba Member
Joined: August 16, 2019 Posts: 4853 Location: Connecticut
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Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2021 4:01 pm Post subject: Re: Radio goes off when I brake |
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Happy to hear you got it working— thanks for the update! _________________ 1973 Porsche 914 2.0
1959 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia
1979 Volkswagen Rabbit
1973 Volkswagen Bus
1970 MGB-GT
1962 Oldsmobile Jetfire
More tomfoolery on
The Karmann Ghia Fever YouTube Channel! |
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