Car shuts off when brakes are pressed

[Sisko182]

So I sold my MX-3 today, and naturally, not even an hour after selling it I get a text from the guy who bought it saying that the car shuts off when he presses the brakes when driving. I never once had this problem when I had it for the past 2 years, so I have no idea what the problem could be.

He doesn't speak English very well, so he didn't do a very good job of explaining what was happening. All he said was that the car turns off when the brakes are pressed and that the "rpm is at 0."

I had this car in the shop the other day for a couple of things, one being to fix the back up lights. They tinkered around a little bit to figure out what was wrong with them, so I am wondering if something they did may have caused this.

Searching around on the internet, with only a vague idea of what is wrong with the car, what I have found is that it may be something wrong with the battery or alternator. It is difficult to assess myself what is wrong since I don't have access to the car.

The guy said he wanted his money back since he thinks this will be an expensive fix, but I would rather pay a couple hundred bucks to fix a potential problem rather than take the car back since I didn't have any luck selling this car before this guy, and I need the money for school. So does anyone have even a remote idea as to what may be wrong with the car?

[RobMinhas]

Sounds like an alternator. Not a difficult fix, or too expensive either. You can pull it and take it to a parts store and have them test it.

[Evo_Spec]

Sounds like an alternator. Not a difficult fix, or too expensive either. You can pull it and take it to a parts store and have them test it.

+1
if he's good at driving manual you should see if he can try to drive without his brakes, I had to do this to get to the junkyard to get a new alternator lol

[Daninski]

"He wants his money back", is he smoking some thing illegal? Unless you gave him some kind of warranty with the car it's his problem plain and simple. Nice of you to try and help out and all but how do you know there's even a problem or that the buyer didn't do some thing to cause this problem. Nope, I'm as nice as the next guy and I say tell him it's his car and his problem and suggest he take it to a garage.

[Tavman_1213]

Is there a remote start installed on the car?

[Nd4SpdSe]

If it was the alternator, you would get a charge light, typically, and you'l be able to drive the car until the battery dies. Once the battery is dead, you of course can't restart the car, it'll be completely dead.

Car stalls maybe? Maybe something funky with the neutral switch? Also the PCV valve is a common one.

[SuperK]

This used to happen to me because the battery terminals were making a poor connection. put on the brakes and DEAD. Sometimes the battery would shift around because I didn't have it tied down, then it'd do this process over again.

I ended up having to replace the battery terminals.

[Sleeper6]

Ask if he changed the air filter or attempted too. I had the same issue on my car when the vacuum line from the brake booster into my cai developed a split and the car sucked in excess air when braking as it used the vacuum assist. Drove me nuts until we found it and fixed it with a $2 tube of silicone.

[BornSticky]

couldnt it just be a bad vacuum leak that would cause this?

[wytbishop]

Definitely a bad ground. 100%

Clean and tighten the battery terminals. Remove, clean, polish and replace all the ground wires in the engine compartment and especially where the negative battery cable connects to the body. Make sure they're all tight and don't wiggle around.

[Sisko182]

Thanks so much for all the suggestions and help. Fortunately, however, I did not end up needing it as he said he and his friend managed to fix the problem. As I previously said, he doesn't speak English very well, but here is what he said in a text message:

"I think the car is all ok now... We fixed it already and I think its good now.. And I think ill keep it... Dont worry u won't gonna go pay to your mechanic..."

When I asked what the issue ended up being, referring to the RPMs, he said:

"The minor man it was just to low it has only 0 and we did fixed it and also the air cleaner need to change but we already got it."

So not really much to go on there, but at this point I am good to go. If he gets in contact with me again about another issue, now that they have been tinkering with it, it is all on them and I will have no problem telling him it's his problem now.

Thanks again for the help on this one.

[Syeemx3]

Same problem with mine its the power brake booster leaking vacuum. Continues takeing vacuum from the engine and acts like a major vacuum leak and kills the car =)