Hello,

I have an issue with sounds being played by my car, a 2010 G37 convertible. The problem appears with all kinds of sounds : radio, CD music, phone (over bluetooth), etc.

To explain it simply : sounds instantly stop for about a second, then slowly fade back in. It happens randomly, it can be several times in a row, then no problem for several minutes, then it happens once or twice again... There does not seem to be any logic in it.

Last winter, at some point the battery started to have issues so I had to use an external battery to start the car at some point. A few months later, the alarm triggered without any reason from time to time. It happened about the same time as the sound issue. I bought a new battery and installed it, the alarm no longer triggers by itself but the sound issue is still there.

I have added quite a few mods on the car, those with an electrical part are : a grounding kit (from "Betty's garage), a subwoofer under the front passenger's floor, two different USB cables that go to the cabin (for my phone and a little device called Coyote), a GROM Vline2 unit (that transforms the Ipod multimedia section into an android device), and the car is converted to E85 (flexfuel), with an Ecutek tune.

I initially contacted GROM support because I thought that it was a Vline2 issue, then I realised that it was also happening with the radio and CD music.

I am the only owner and driver of the car, all has been well for years so it is hard to pinpoint where the problem is coming from (apart from the battery thing). There was no "event" that I can think of, that could explain how it happened. It noticed it about a month or two ago.

The car is parked in a closed garage so it should not have had any humidity issue.

Can anyone please help me ? Currently, listening to music is more annoying than anything else and I have no idea what to do.

Thank you very much in advance !

 

Since all audio sources are doing the same thing that kinda points to your Bose amp which could be intermittently losing power? The manual for your AV system is here:
https://www.nicoclub.com/service-man...F2010%2FAV.pdf
(link to download just below that window)
Oddly, there are two power sources running to the amp - through fuses #5 and #8 in the fuse block near the drivers left leg. There is also an ignition on signal from the IPDM fuse #45 (I think). And even weirder, a signal from the retractable hardtop control unit. I have no idea why it would need to know the status of your roof... When you turn first on the radio the sound doesn't start abruptly, it kind of ramps in. So if your sound is cutting out and then ramping back in, it's as if the amp is momentarily losing power. Check to see that those fuses are solid first.

 

Thank you for your reply

That service manual is huge, but I guess I have no choice but to study it. Thanks for the link

The roof status is probably needed because there is a different sound output when the hardtop is down (there is a specific on/off switch for this in the audio settings, I think), so it makes sense to me.

You are correct with the idea that it might be a brief loss of power, I believe it is either that, or some sort of notification that is prioritised over music etc. It is not GPS directions or "TA" (traffic announcements ?) radio alerts though, I tried with both turned off, and also, GPS directions also get interrupted.

I will check the fuses you mentioned with a friend, then come back here with my findings. Thanks again.

 

re: service manual... just focus on the last section (Bose w/NAV)...

All of the above is solid advice... I would also suggest you check all of the wiring harnesses in the trunk area especially near the Bose amp. There are a lot of moving parts back there with the roof operation. Look for solid connections and intact wiring.

It seems that more and more 'verts are having audio/amp issues...

 

So I checked the fuses, they are all fine.

However, after that, I had a 10-minute conversation through bluetooth and I don't think that I had a single sound issue, which is very weird. I will check with music through bluetooth tomorrow.

I have no idea how to check the wiring in the trunk area as I have zero mechanical / technical experience. I did a quick check while someone else opened and closed the roof, the wires that I spotted on the sides were fine but I could not check for any plug.

Another weird thing, when the sound cuts, it happens three or four times in a row, every five seconds or so. I will upload some recordings to show you exactly how it sounds.

 

Sorry for double-posting, here are four recordings (two audio files and two video files). If the size is too big, I will put them on YouTube instead, let me know.

- "problem.mp3" (I was driving, sorry, it was raining), the bug can be heard at 0:26, 0:36, 0:42, 0:47.
- "problem 2.mp3" (I was parked, the engine was running), the bug can be heard at 0:03, 0:08, 0:13.
- "VID_20210527_221809" (I was parked, the engine was stopped), the bug can be heard at 0:17, then 1:05.
- "VID_20210527_222145" (I was parked, the engine was stopped), the bug can be heard at 0:24, 0:29, 0:34, 1:26.

 

And, sorry for triple-posting. I tested music through bluetooth. The problem happens as well... T.T

 

Here is an update, this is getting stranger.

I had another long phone conversation this weekend and no single interruption happened. I had tried to turn many, many things off in the settings (basically, anything tied to navigation or that could perhaps trigger a notification), I deleted and reinstalled my bluetooth phone pairing, I also unplugged my Coyote device just in case.

After that, I tested music (through Vline with the Spotify app, should it matter) and it worked flawlessly through several sessions, with the car turned completely off between them. Yay !

... Until today, I just listened to some music (through Vline / Spotify again) and the bug happened again T.T. Unplugging the Coyote device did nothing this time, turning options on and off in the settings did not help either.

I am having a very hard time trying to figure what the cause of this bug could be.

Does anyone have any suggestion ?

 

It sounds like you've almost solved it. You're close! One of those notifications things that you disabled must be defaulting back to "on" when you restart everything. Are you sure it's not your phone sending an incoming email or IM notification to your car as if it's an incoming phone call, or something? I have Bose w/o nav so I have Goggle Maps on my iPhone set to "call" the car to give directions. "Turn Right" dims all other audio and appears on screen as an incoming call lasting 2 seconds.

Maybe try putting your phone on airplane mode and listening to the radio to see if it still gets interrupted.

 

Thank you for replying, it is hard to keep searching alone !

Yes, I tried to check all the settings again, one by one. No success.

I also tried without any bluetooth connection (bluetooth off, or bluetooth on and unpaired), the problem still happened.

All I can think of that made it work last Saturday was that I had a long phone call, without any problem. It was then ok for the rest of the day, even though the car was parked and turned off several times since then. It really makes little sense but I will have to try to "reproduce" this to make sure that it is even related and not a coincidence.

Beyond that, it is hard to say what else I could have done to "remove" the problem. Last Saturday, sometimes the roof was down, sometimes I had it back up. Sometimes it was daylight, then it was night so headlights were on... o_O

 

Update : I spent more time with the car today.

AGAIN : zero issue when phoning.

AGAIN : issues with other kinds of sounds, no matter the source.

I took some time to record the length of time between two sound bugs, here are the results :
- 47 seconds : first bug
- 5 seconds later : second bug
- 47 seconds later : third bug
- 5 seconds later : fourth bug
- 47 seconds later : fifth bug
- 5 seconds later : 6th bug
- 5 seconds later : 7th bug
- 47 seconds later : 8th bug
- 5 seconds later : 9th bug

So it seems very clear to me that "something" is happening twice (or three times) in a row with an initial delay of exactly 47 seconds, and a repeat after 5 extra seconds. What could it be ?

I also tried to switch on / off just about every setting (not just soundwise). Is there a way to reset the Infiniti radio / multimedia unit to factory settings ? (I had tried with the Grom Vline unit but of course, it did nothing).

 

I don't know if it has a reset option in it, but there's a diagnostic mode you can go into on our cars. Start with the car running and radio powered off, then press and hold the SETTING button under the screen, and turn the volume **** ~50 clicks either direction until the car beeps. You'll now be in a factory service type mode which might give you some more options.

 

Aaaaaaaaaand the problem is gone. Finally !

The only change in the car was a new firmware for the Grom Vline 2, and it was indeed the culprit ! Downgrading it did the trick.

I have no idea why though, but I believe that the info I provided to Grom will (hopefully) help them fix the issue.

In the meantime, I will not update it again.

Thanks to all of you who provided so much info and help, I really appreciate it. You guys rock ♥

 

Wow, nice going, glad you figured it out. And good info for anybody else who might have the Grom...