Car shutting off....why??

[xtcbct]

The past 3 days, something wierd has happened 3 times. I have been driving my GM normally, and the car while im driving will just mysteriously shut off. The first 2 times, I had to restart the car while moving. The last time, today, the car shut off and started up again on its own. In all cases, the digital dash shut off and radio shut off, when it all came back on, the clock was at 12:00am and everything had to be reset again on my radio. I dont know what is wrong, but in all cases the engine shut off too. Has anyone else experienced this?

[bob6364]

sounds like the ground is loose to me....trace negative cable from the battery to the block, clean and tighten the connection

[RoNiN77]

Happened to me on the freeway last year. A new battery solved the problem.

[Local Boy]

+1 for Batt. terminal needs cleaning/tightening

ALOHA

[Blackened300a]

+1 for Batt. terminal needs cleaning/tightening

ALOHA

+2
Happened on my Saab and it caused interference in the radio as well. Check your battery connections, if they are fine, then check your starter connections and grounds.

[xtcbct]

Problem was solved! Thank you everyone.

[jdando]

Problem was solved! Thank you everyone.

Well, what was the problem?

jeremy

[xtcbct]

It was rather dumb and obvious I guess. I had mounted accessory posts to the back of the battery. The battery then became loose without my knowledge. When I checked it out, the battery had flopped back a little and the positive accessoory terminal on the backside of the battery had been touching metal behind the battery. Only doing so on hills and bumps which expllained why it was intermittent. So the battery was resecured and the accessory posts removed since they werent being used anyways.

[Pat]

You guys are good at diagnosing that problem. I'm impressed to say the least.

[jabird56]

I'm not trying to highjack the thread here (especially since the problem was identified); however, I had the same problem with my 99 SuperDuty six months ago where is would be cruizin' down the road and the 7.3L POWERSTROKE would just quit. What is was, was a "camshaft sensor" went bad. Had it replaced. Now here is the interesting part of the story.... FORD currently has a recall on the SuperDuty's regarding this sensor. My friendly neighborhood FORD dealer replaced the sensor (with a new an improved version) under this recall, THEN at the same time submitted paperwork into FORD for me to get refunded on the cost of the repair six months ago. This is the first time I have had work done, and they paid me.
For those of you that want to check on recalls against your FORD/MERCURY vehicles here is the website to check:

http://www.ford.com/owner-services/customer-support/recall-information