Thread: Car chimes 3 times going over bumps?

I have this strange issue. I've done a couple things to the car but I don't know why the car chimes 3 times when I go over bumps.

I've installed a head unit and wiring stuff for a stereo system (including side post adapters so I can attach aftermarket wiring), and I did a major job to the car recently (engine mounts and oil pan gasket.)

It seems that the car randomly chimes three times. I thought maybe it was going over bumps but it doesn't seem to be. Once the radio rebooted going over a bump (but the car stayed running as far as I can tell.)

When I stopped I jiggled the ignition key, that wasn't it. I had to turn the key quite a ways before it cut power to the car.

I'm going to check the battery terminals tomorrow. I had the battery out, but I did snug everything up when installing. I'm beginning to wonder if the aftermarket posts are not getting a good enough connection to the battery.

When the car chimes 3 times, there are no warning lights on the dash.

Anyone know how tight those side terminals are supposed to be? The more I think about it, this really only started happening after I changed those terminals...

What other things can cause the car to chime like that while driving?

Bad grounds. And the terminals should be good and tight. I've had the car kill all power when I went to start it one day and found that the neg. cable was just ever so loose (I could move it by hand). Tightened it back up and no issues.

So today I checked everything. I *think* it was the aftermarket battery post terminals. I did check the ground I added to the body as well and made sure it was tight.

The connections at the battery were loose. So I arranged the wires so that if the wire tugs a bit at the post, it'll tighten slightly instead of loosen slightly. Went on a 20 mile trip - no weird chiming or head unit resetting.

I think it's good? Boy do I hate weird problems like that.