JamesQ

i apologize for this being a long post but I really need some help on this one
Well the only mods I did on my car this pass week has been the addition of the Escort passport 8500. On the night I started using radar detector (after driving with it for around 1 hour perfectly fine), my engine suddenly shuts down completely. My headlights remained on, but radio and other stuff all died. At this point, I'm like W T F. Luckily it was late at night so no cars were behind me and i got a chance to pull over without anything seriously bad happening (didnt had ps because engine was dead).

I removed the radar detector, took out the key and put it back to start the carand the car started up like nothing happened. Then 2 blocks later, it dies again, but this time the engine wouldnt start and I get the symptoms of a bad ignition. (same thing happened two months back when my car got broken into and they busted my ignition.) Symptoms such as no power to car when key is in first and 2nd position, and engine wont even spark and the ignition position. But then somehow, after trying it again for a min or two, the car started up fine and I took it all the way home.

This happened the night before I needed to drive on a class trip to Tahoe. The next morning, i decided that if my car dies again, i'm going to have to cancel on the trip. I let it idle with the radar detector plugged in for 20 mins and it didn't die once so I decided to drive my car to the trip. (i know it was extremely stupid to still drive on the trip when my car is capable of just shutting down without notice but we needed drivers and I got no other car to drive). Two hours into the trip, just outside Placerville, with my radar detector plugged in, my car suddenly dies again.

After a min or so, after removing the radar detector, it cranked up perfectly again. And after 1-2 min later, it dies again, but this time, it wont start AT ALL. (I panic at this time because I was in the middle of nowhere and towing a car to somewhere that can fix it would cost a fortune.) My friend helped me check the ignition fuse because he believed it might have blown, but it was perfectly fine. Again, im seeing the symptons of a dead igniter. after 20 mins or so of waiting on the side of the road trying to figure out what's wrong, i took apart the plastic cover that shields the ignition and tried to search for burnt / out of place wires but came up empty. Everything seemed fine.

There was one sensor, ( i think for the windshields, etc) that i plugged out and plugged back in. After doing this, i tried to startup the car, and it started up perfectly. If anyone drives to south tahoe, they know that the path outside placerville to tahoe is curvey, and dont have shoulders for the most parts. I was scared as **** that my car will die again with no shoulder but luckily it made it to the cabin, and made it all the way back today from tahoe to the bay just fine (no radar detector plugged in).

Could this be a faulty ignition, maybe some wires in the ignition are fucked up. or can this be because of the radar detector even though it just takes up whatever power my cig lighter can give.

im bringing it to a shop tomorrow, but would really like to know what could be wrong with the car from you guys' opinions

C4wrx

sounds like a ignition switch to me. Let me Know what it is when you find out