Freakishly odd electical problem...

**DADillac** · 11-08-2006, 12:50 PM

ok today im driving out of a parking lot, my radio turns off, then on then off then on again. WTF so i keep going then my air bag light starts flashing, a little father and my tach and speedo just go all the way up and back down, my trip odo resets, air bag light flashing, radio is reset. so i pull over to the shoulder and as soon as i come to a stop the car dies, just like i turned the key, not a shakey sputter then die, just turned off.

i leave it off for about 2 min, start it back up and it has been completly normal ever since, ive driven 50 miles and turned the car off and on 5 times and its totally fine now.

i checked my battery terminals and they are fine, not sure what else to do.

**DADillac** · 11-08-2006, 05:37 PM

anyone????

**Orcus79** · 11-08-2006, 08:50 PM

alternator on its way out

**White Rascal** · 11-09-2006, 02:51 AM

Take it to a dealership and let them check it out. There are too many possibilties for anyone on a forum like this to have any idea what the problem might be.

**DADillac** · 11-09-2006, 10:20 AM

im not paying a dealer to look at it, when its fine now, how could they find anything wrong?

**White Rascal** · 11-09-2006, 11:28 AM

They can hook it up to their computer to see if it threw a code which can help them pinpoint exactly what the problem is.

**DADillac** · 11-09-2006, 04:18 PM

if it threw a code wouldnt the check engine light come on
?

**Orcus79** · 11-09-2006, 04:32 PM

not all the time, depends on the system and the computer doesn't controle the electricle system, just engine and drive train. My truck did simalre things just before my Alt died speedo went al the way over stereo shut off, engin died. something happened in the charging system to confuse the computer, possibly into think that you just started the car. Best thing would be to have someone look over the electricle. you can do "quick" visual your self by going over all the connections you can find looking for anything out of the ordinary.

**imflyn** · 11-17-2006, 06:53 PM

Almost diffenitly a loose connection somewhere or alt. My parents safari did very similar things (sporatic, months between events) and the dealer found several loose connections. One at the battery, one at the starter and another harness somewhere else...I used to have a sunfire and it did almost the identical problem as well, loose battery cable...My friend had a bonneville (96 I think) and it's gauges would ocassionally peg back forth, eventually(years later) the alternator went out and the problem dissappeared after it was replaced...I was limping a truck home on battery only (alternator failed) and as the battery was draining the speedo strted pegging back and forth. So from my experience, check every harness and cable and ground you can find. If no luck there. Bide your time and the alt will fail or the glitch will reappear and you can track it down, it will most likely become more frequent, not less. I hate electrical shit for just this reason.. it's a bitch to troubleshoot intermitent problems. Sorry for the long post, just bored killing time on my layover. GOOD LUCK

**acrylicophobia** · 11-22-2006, 04:59 PM

At the very least take it to Autozone or O'Reillys or somewhere that can test your charging system (normally for free). It sounds like your alternator, either it going out or there's a loose connection on it. I've had two die on me, and the same thing has happened. At any rate, you don't want it to happen again and you not be able to start the car, when having someone run codes or do other tests could keep you on the road. Just because it's fine now doesn't mean the problem isn't still there.

Look at it this way, if you had really strong heart pains, and then they went away and you felt perfectly fine, wouldn't you want to go to a doctor to make sure everything was ok?