A couple thoughts: - Early VINs had a wiring mod for the starter that improved the current flow to the starter. - Is your VIN before or after? (Anyone know when (VIN) the changeover was implemented?) - If before, does it have the mod? - Check your fuse connections for overheated terminals. Fix or replace as needed. - Check the ground connections. This has given my car fits on occasion - The main ground connected to the trailing arm bracket (passenger side) was perfectly tight yet enough corrosion built up enough to kill the car. Note that I had just driven it, stopped for about 1 minute and when I went to restart it was dead (totally dead in this case) - When I ran an additional ground from the common ground point straight up from the gas pedal, it SUBSTANTIALLY improved current flow to the dash. No longer did the volt meter read so anemic and the lights are brighter. - I Ran a new ground bus just to alleviate these problems. If you plan in improving the ground cluster above the gas pedal, picking up the remaining points along the tunnel is a piece of cake. - I believe this test works. Using a volt meter, put the negative terminal to the battery negative and then touch the positive to the car panel. If you see about 12Vdc, then you have a ground issue. I believe that was the test that pointed me towards the failed connection at the trailing bolt bracket. - A volt meter can be very helpful with troubleshooting electrical issues. That said, I have experienced voltage present yet insufficient current to activate the problematic device. Very frustrating. QUESTION to the forum as a whole... is there a circuit breaker in the problematic circuits? A circuit breaker tripping would cause the failure mode and when they reset would bring it back to life. A marginal breaker or marginal load could cause the periodicness of the issue. I can't say that these will fix your problem but if there are issues with any of these points it is worth the fix. Nick > > > > > > --- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:dmcnews%40yahoogroups.com>, > KiwiDean@ wrote: > > > > > > > > On occasion, my motor cuts out and will not turn over (starter > motor > > > > completely dead). The instrument panel shows no lights which > seems to indicate > > > > no battery power at all, yet internal lights and headlights are > still > > > > working okay. After a while, power comes back to the instrument > panel and I can > > > > start the car. Anything in particular I should check? > > > > > > > > Dean > > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------ > > > > To address comments privately to the moderating team, please address: > > moderators@... > > > > For more info on the list, tech articles, cars for sale see > www.dmcnews.com > > > > To search the archives or view files, log in at > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnewsYahoo! Groups Links > > > > ------------------------------------ To address comments privately to the moderating team, please address: moderators@xxxxxxxxxxx For more info on the list, tech articles, cars for sale see www.dmcnews.com To search the archives or view files, log in at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnewsYahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: dmcnews-digest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx dmcnews-fullfeatured@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: dmcnews-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/