My 1998 AWD Astro had a truly mystifying fit on Sunday. Was taking a victorious test drive after finally narrowing in on and fixing a long running issue with my brakes that was also screwing with my AWD (lesson learned, don't take the bait on the cheap parts...) and then...
PROBLEM: Got on the freeway at 51st st, and power cut right before the next exit to 27th (so made it roughly 20 blocks..) noticed the gas pedal suddenly wasn't doing anything, and felt the engine chuggling a little bit, noticed all my dash lights were out, hazards didn't work when I put them on. Thankfully, no one in the lane to the right of me and the exit was right there (no shoulder on this section) it's a funny little exit that is a little downhill, then has a slight grade up in the middle, then down again... was losing speed at the hump and tapped the gas hard for a few seconds which barely gave me the push I needed to crest over. Parked in a red zone right out of the mouth of the exit, turned ignition to off, and let my heart attack play out. Tried turning the car on, expecting it to not crank, but alas, started right up. I turned the van off again, checked battery connections, they are all tight. OK. Started again to cautiously take side streets home, after 2 blocks air bag light started flashing, then same thing happened again at about 3 blocks away. Checked battery connections again because I didn't know what else to do... yes they are still tight. Let it run for about ten minutes at idle, turning all the lights off and on, blasting radio, heat, whatever, didn't skip a beat... Drove the rest of the way home (about 2.5 miles) without error.
CONTEXT: https://www.astrosafari.com/viewtopic.php?f=76&t=142312 here is a previous post about somewhat similar issues that I thought had been resolved, and more context on other events that may or may not be related from the deeper past. This would be the 3rd and 4th time I've lost power while in motion, but the events are all very spaced out save the fact it happened twice in a row on Sunday.
I am really at a loss. I am inclined to think it's not the alternator since it came back on right away. My scope on that is limited, though. Leaning toward potential it's something spazzing in the ignition, but if my van thought I turned it off mid freeway I'm not sure why the lights wouldn't work, or why I would have gotten that weak little push from hitting the gas... Planning on taking it in for professional TLC soon, but it's been in and out of the mechanic for weird electrical business and would like to try and formulate a better idea of what even happened. It's been hard for them to narrow down, since its so intermittent, and of course tends to be on its best behavior when it's at the doctor...
Any thoughts or insight would be very kindly appreciated!
PROBLEM: Got on the freeway at 51st st, and power cut right before the next exit to 27th (so made it roughly 20 blocks..) noticed the gas pedal suddenly wasn't doing anything, and felt the engine chuggling a little bit, noticed all my dash lights were out, hazards didn't work when I put them on. Thankfully, no one in the lane to the right of me and the exit was right there (no shoulder on this section) it's a funny little exit that is a little downhill, then has a slight grade up in the middle, then down again... was losing speed at the hump and tapped the gas hard for a few seconds which barely gave me the push I needed to crest over. Parked in a red zone right out of the mouth of the exit, turned ignition to off, and let my heart attack play out. Tried turning the car on, expecting it to not crank, but alas, started right up. I turned the van off again, checked battery connections, they are all tight. OK. Started again to cautiously take side streets home, after 2 blocks air bag light started flashing, then same thing happened again at about 3 blocks away. Checked battery connections again because I didn't know what else to do... yes they are still tight. Let it run for about ten minutes at idle, turning all the lights off and on, blasting radio, heat, whatever, didn't skip a beat... Drove the rest of the way home (about 2.5 miles) without error.
CONTEXT: https://www.astrosafari.com/viewtopic.php?f=76&t=142312 here is a previous post about somewhat similar issues that I thought had been resolved, and more context on other events that may or may not be related from the deeper past. This would be the 3rd and 4th time I've lost power while in motion, but the events are all very spaced out save the fact it happened twice in a row on Sunday.
I am really at a loss. I am inclined to think it's not the alternator since it came back on right away. My scope on that is limited, though. Leaning toward potential it's something spazzing in the ignition, but if my van thought I turned it off mid freeway I'm not sure why the lights wouldn't work, or why I would have gotten that weak little push from hitting the gas... Planning on taking it in for professional TLC soon, but it's been in and out of the mechanic for weird electrical business and would like to try and formulate a better idea of what even happened. It's been hard for them to narrow down, since its so intermittent, and of course tends to be on its best behavior when it's at the doctor...
Any thoughts or insight would be very kindly appreciated!