Bizarre Audio Problem

I recently had a ton of trouble whilst installing a Rostra Bluetooth kit in my 2012 Mazda5 Sport. Nothing wrong with the kit, as it works quite well, and was a fantastic $20 eBay find. The problem is with the audio system cutting out, but only under one particular circumstance. The problem only occurs when I have the passenger door fully open. Everything works fine when it is partially open, but when I push the door to the second stop detent I get a loud pop out of the audio system and then silence. Close the door a little and all returns to normal. This occurs irrespective of whether or not I have the BT kit installed. What the heck is going on? Has anyone else experienced this?

Does that only happen when using the bluetooth kit?

Have you pulled the door panel to check the wiring? And pull the glovebox and right side panels for the dash/kick panel area to check wiring also. It sounds like you may be shorting out the speaker leads or some other wires when the door check arm is pulled to full extension. Also check the condition of the connectors.

Many audio units have protection circuits that will detect a short (often in the speaker leads) and shut down the unit (or just the units's output) if a short is detected.

deisz001 said:

Does that only happen when using the bluetooth kit?

Click to expand...

As mentioned, it happens irrespective of whether or not the BT kit is installed. It was discovered during the install of that kit because I was doing the install from the passenger side of the car. When I've swapped head units in the past I've done it from the driver's seat, but because of the extra wiring with the BT kit (switch, microphone) I did it from the passenger seat.

sac02 said:

Have you pulled the door panel to check the wiring? And pull the glovebox and right side panels for the dash/kick panel area to check wiring also. It sounds like you may be shorting out the speaker leads or some other wires when the door check arm is pulled to full extension. Also check the condition of the connectors.

Many audio units have protection circuits that will detect a short (often in the speaker leads) and shut down the unit (or just the units's output) if a short is detected.

Click to expand...

The dash and center console is still disassembled (I was installing a Harman Kardon iPod interface, but ran out of time to button everything back up), so I'll take another look at the wiring under the dash. It's been a few years since I've done anything in the doors, but I guess I'll pull that apart and check it as well. Years ago I did put in some nice Polk speakers, but reused the existing wiring, so I discounted that as a possibility. But adding the BT and iPod kit, as well as other ICE and related items, perhaps I've pulled on the speaker wires even though I thought I left them in place. I guess I'll grab some more wiring ties and tidy up that area.