So I had been driving my car all night (over an hour and in stop and go traffic) then I had a pit stop for about an hour and cruised another 10 minutes after that. The car was definitely warm, but all of a sudden I pressed the clutch pedal in and all the electronics started to flicker. My radio went dead and on the gauge cluster all the lights started flickering on and off. After 3 seconds of this the car couldn't idle, power steering was out and I had to coast off the street. Luckily there weren't any cars around. I let the car sit a bit and took the keys out of the ignition.

After 30 seconds I tried to crank it and it tried to turn over normally, but the car just wouldn't idle. The electronics did their flickering thing again and the the rpms just dropped back down to 0. After a few tries it finally stayed put and I decided to try going, but then it happened one more time. Repeat everything above and since then it has been fine. No CEL or anything.

Anyone have any ideas what's up with this? Makes me scared to take my planned 5 hour drive on Thanksgiving day.

Thanks!

 

Oh and not sure if it matters, but it's a 98 base Lude.

 

Might be that your timing belt skipped some teeth. (Auto tensioners have been known to fail) Its refusal to idle sounds like the valves are bent/ not closing and opening properly. Check out the timing belt.

 

Sounds like a short - you don't happen to have a big honk'n stereo/amp?

Given the flickering gauges, I would be less likely to think the timing belt slipped - more like a loose wire. You might check the battery cables where they attach to the fuse box under the hood on the passenger side. Maybe loose, or if you have something pulling a heavy load (big stereo amp), maybe melted.

 

Test the alternator.

 

X2
and your battery because if it is your alt, you may have fried the battery too.

 

And battery terminals, that's what happened to me when I had messed up terminals..