So I'm driving down the expressway a week ago, (with no UTEC) and the car dies. By dies, I mean no engine, no gauges, no intrument displays, no fuel pump, nothing that is turned on by the ON position of the ignition. I jiggle the key... nothing. I come to a stop. Everything that works on the ACC position works.... lights, radio. But nothing on the ON positiong, and it won't turn over when I push the key to start. So I start pulling fuses in the engine bay and by the footwell.... All good. I get pissed off and unplug the battery; plug it back in the car starts and runs fine. No check engine lights, normal power, no noises. Just like it never happened.

I thought it had something to do with missing the UTEC. I get the new utec put it in, car runs strong. Than it died again last night. freeway driving, 80mph, then no ignition, no dash lights, no gauges, no fuel pump, no noise when turning the key to on. I reset with the battery and the car works.

It happens again 15 minutes later on the freeway. I try the battery disconnect, this time it doesn't work. I get pissed off and start pushing buttons and hitting stuff. The car start beeping continously at me if I pull the key out of the ignition, then it rolls the windows the windows half way down on it's own. I try to raise the windows and they don't work. Then I pres both pass and driver window down buttons ahd everything comes back on. Gauges light up, fuel pump on, car starts and runs fine..... no check engine lights.

How messed up is that? Anyone got any ideas on some ridiculous crap like that? body control module maybe?

 

Definitely an intermittent electrical issue. Possibly on the battery terminal or somewhere around there. Start the car, in your drive way or somewhere safe, and grab all the cables around the battery and tug on them. This should help you narrow it down.


Good luck, electrical issues are the worst.

 

 

I hate this type of problem.

 

Yeah, one of my buddies suggested that too, but I don't think it's the battery because not everything dies. The radio and accessory lights never die, flashers and headlights never die. It's only the parts of the car related to engine ignition like the fuel pump, ignition, starter, gauges, gauge lights, etc.

 

sounds like a good time to sell!

 

It could be a ecu or bcm issue.

 

ecu or BCM issues really need a Consult to diagnose (ie trip to the dealer), esp if pulling the battery for a reset doesnt seem to help.

 

flatbed to japtrix.

 

Yeah. Grounding voodoo. Battery cables tug would be a good place to start. Please describe "no UTEC" in more detail. Did you remove it? Did you cap off the power/ground? Any possibility something is touching metal somewhere?

 

I had a wierd issue like this once. My car would die when I'd hit a bump in the road. It turned out I had a loose battery ground terminal. adjust the terminal and crank it tight. everything has been perfect since.

 

i had this aswell, previous owner bought a diffrent battery and the ground terminal thing was abit smaller than oem so it didnt sit tight over it!
i just stuffed a small metall pin between the terminal and the cable thingie and now im all good

 

Do you have an aftermarket alarm? Regardless, check all the wiring around/near the steering column, fusebox, and ignition switch. It sounds like a primary wire is coming loose (bad splice or butt connection) and making the ECU go nuts.

Also check wiring around/on the ECU, perhaps a pin is sliding loose from the connector. Jiggle everything around, everywhere, until you can reproduce this!

I agree random issues like this are always the worst!!!

 

So for some follow up.... I drove it to the dealer and it died in there driveway. It started as soon as the service guy got there. The master tech looked at it. hooked it up to consult, no ecu or bcm codes were found. The service guy drove it around, and it died on him around mile 8, but then it started back immediately on it's own.

Then I called this morning and they said the master tech was scared to touch anything on the car and that I could pick it up and they wouldn't charge me for the diagnostic fee. Fantastic. (sarcasm noted)

When it happens, nothing associated with the ON position of the ignition functions. i turn the key to ACC and everything there works, but nothing additional happens when I turn the key to ON. Also, when the car dies, everything on the ACC position, like the radio and headlights and dome lights continue to work, they never stop working.

I have a clifford intelliguard 7000 that I've had since I bought the car in 2002. It intercepts both the ON and the ACC wire right after they leave the ignition. So it's possible that the clifford box is dying. I'm gonna splice the alarm out of the those wires and see if that makes a difference.

It's really difficult because it is so intermittent. It might take 10 miles of driving before it happens once.

Also, when I said it happened without the utec, I mean the utec was off for repair and the car was running completely on the stock ECU.

 

+1 on bypassing the clifford...the cutout relay or splicing has gone bad on you! Seen this a million times in my installer days.

 

I had something similar happen to me recently. I had installed gauges for my s/c and on the boost gauge sensor I hooked the IGN wire to a add-a-fuse and plugged it into the IGN fuse next to the battery. Everything worked fine but, then the car randomly died after about a week. The fuse never blew but, when I replaced it with just the regular fuse it corrected the problem. It had something to do with the fuel because my fuel pressure gauge lost pressure. I have sense rewired with no further issues.

 

mine is doing this on decel with my utec it happened probably 10 times a today