Car shuts off when driving!!! Please Help!!!

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Mussolini1996

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My '02 LS V8 has recently had a tendency to just completely shut off all the power when I'm driving for about 1 second then come back on. This has happened twice while driving home from the gym in rainy weather. I first thought it was just my battery completely crapping out on me, but I finally replaced it with a yellow top optima battery today and the same thing happened. There has to be a lose wire or short somewhere, but I have no idea where to start. Has anyone else had this problem???
 
im having the same issue now 99 percent sure its your PCV hose! thats what our good friends on this site have told me and im getting ready to change mine. ill let you know how it goes.
 
When the car is running, it's running off of the alternator. The battery is only used to start it and while running, the alternator charges it and supplies voltage for the car to run.

Do you get an message on the message center? Any check engine lights?
 
No check engine light or anything. Like I said the power completely shuts off(headlights, stereo, instrument cluster), as if I turned the key off. When it comes back on their is a brief beep. I know what the battery and alternator do, but in my experience, if you cut off the battery while the car is running, the car can shut off. It has to be loose connection, I just don't know where at.
 
No one else has any feedback or possible solutions??? I figured this question would get alot of replies.
 
The car will run without a battery, although it's not a very smart idea on a fuel injected car because you can fry the ECM.

When the car shuts off, is it while going down a smooth road or if you hit a bump? Maybe it's an ignition cylinder or key problem? :confused:
 
does the motor stay running? if so your only losing power on some of your circuits, you will need to isolate which circuits by what loses power and if anything keeps power(like the locks or windows) it might be as simple as one of the many ground points(like in the kick panels) have came loose or the power connection at either the FEM or the REM. just some places to start.
 
Sorry I didn't clarify before, the motor also shuts off. So I lose complete power. The car just dies, but only for 1 second then comes right back on. This might happen 2 or 3 times in a row and then it will run fine.
 
Maybe Alternator failure?

Everything runs off the alternator once the car is started. If it is starting to die then you might get these symptoms.:confused:
 
tireman said:
Everything runs off the alternator once the car is started. If it is starting to die then you might get these symptoms.:confused:
Click to expand...

The reality is that when the car is running, everything runs off both the battery and the alternator. The output from the alternator is not a constant wave, instead it has ripples in it. At the peaks of the ripples, the alternator supplies current to the battery (recharging it) and to the electrical items in the car. During the valleys of the ripples, the battery actually supplies some current (along with the alternator) to the electrical loads. This way the electrical loads mostly just see a nice straight wave of current. This is also why it is a very bad idea to disconnect a battery while a car is running. Back in the 60's, the electrical loads didn't much care if the power was very noisy. Today, some of the electronics can be damaged by it.

So, for it to be an alternator problem, his battery would have to fail (almost completely) while he is driving, but then somehow repair itself so that he could use it to start the car later.

The far simpler explanation is that there is a loose main power wire somewhere. (The ignition switch could also be considered, but I think that multiple contacts would have to fail at the same time to kill all power.)
I remember reading about someone who had a similar problem and traced it to a high-power connection somewhere behind the driver side kick panel. Has that been checked? Also, you might check the wiring behind the front wheel on the driver's side.
 
I will check all of those options and let you guys know what I find out. Thanks for the help so far, I greatly appreciate it.
 
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