Wheel bearings, alignment and stereo cuts out on braking?

[jevans]

Hello,

I have a three part question.

Can someone tell me approximately how much it should cost me in labour to replace the front wheel bearings. I called Lordco and the bearings themselves are $30.00 each.

Also approximately how much should I be paying for a wheel alignment.

And finally could anyone venture a guess as to why my stereo suddenly started cutting out when I brake??. As soon as I release the brake the music fades back in. I suspect something might be pinching something else but I can't find anything on inspection. I've also noticed my clock keeps resetting itself, particularly if I push the cigarette lighter in. All of these symptoms seemed to start when the hot weather arrived.

Thanks for your time, Jason.

[jessef]

Bearings RE-RE 2.5-3 hrs labor
Alignment between 100-160 depending on where you go
Brakes/stereo, not sure... probably electrical.. hunting an electrical issue can be time consuming

[jevans]

So my stereo started functioning normally again quite sometime ago. It seems to be up to it's old tricks again as of today. It does works intermittenly but when I apply my brakes it fades out to silence?. Not only that but I suddenly have no headlights, no running, no low, no high, no horn, no dash, no interior, no clock, no hazards and no fogs. I checked my fuses and they are all fine?. Signals work fine.

I have read as many posts as possible on possible causes and still don't know where to start. If anyone has any thoughts I'd appreciate you help.

The braking thing is weird no?

Thanks for your time, Jason.

[TardisDeli]

Culprit when you have so many different electrical issues is the "fuse link" above the battery.

A cute wire-y square plastic thingy, it hangs above aft the battery.

To my mind, it looks nothing like a fuse link, it looks like a cute little plastic square block about 1.5 inches square, with 4 normal electrical wires curling out and back in. These wires are designed to melt in a catastrophe. Each of those 4 wires protects one quadrant of the fuse box above your brake (at knee level). So yes, your knee level fuses will be just fine. The fact that you still have turn signals etc tells you which quadrant is still OK.

So, you carefully undo and remove your battery, now you can see the cute square wire-y thing, it sits way back in the battery area. Betcha the cute plastic box-y thing has become brittle with age, and probably connector melted on one or more of the wires (which matches whatever quadrant of the knee level fuses it relates to).

If you are happy with electrical work, rather than buy a used cute thing, carefully label each wire, just cut out that cute box, and insert a connector on each end the wires, with a 2 inch piece of wire of the same guage that was part of the cute square wire-y thing with fused connector at end to connect each wire back together again (you'll need to calculate the fuse rating, I can't remember it off hand, ours happened ages ago).

So, a visual check should show if your cute wire-y thing looks sad.
I think Falco may have posted photo, about 8 months ago?

Christine.

PS Your "Braking Thing" is wierd, I still vote for my cute wire-y thing, cuz it just floats midair above the battery, and on braking might be touching something metal or you have a loose wire inside the cute thing, or its just jiggling and disco dancing about with the motion of braking.

If you're near Burnaby, Jay could look at it after you've done the troubleshooting (either 9 to 9:30 am, or after 6pm ish -- his schedule is hectic so PM your phone number if you want to meet up).

[jevans]

Christine,

I owe you big time. I just decided to have a peek in and around the battery for this little plastic thing you spoke of. I fiddled for a few minutes and then noticed that on my van there is a 20 amp breaker very close to the radiator overflow container. I popped it out to find it was fried, replaced it and wallah! all of my issues are fixed. It wasn't quite what you were explaining but you definately led me in the right direction.

Thanks so much, Jason.

[freestyler]

Cool problem(s), and cool solution. I'm going to remember this.

[jevans]

Well my lights work and thats most important. I spoke a little to soon on the clock and the stereo still cuts out when I brake?

Thanks again , J