I'm having a problem, as if you could tell by the title! Lemme lay my car on the line here...

It's on the stage 2 tune, been that way for over a year and I'm at 45,000 miles now, and this problem just presented itself. Lemme Explain...

I'm just driving around... looking for lunch (other cars ). Cruising, Cruising, Cruising. Suddenly, my dash goes dead. The Speedo, The Tach, and the Gas Gauge all hit Zero... as if the car wasn't running (I didn't check the boost gauge). The radio stays on... my fog lights stay on... but it makes the "Ding-Ding-Ding" sound... as if you were turning the Autolights Off... You know what I mean? The DIC shows "POWER STEERING" and I click that one away, and I can't remember, but I think it shows another one. The Airbag light and the Seatbelt light both flash like I just started the car... AND that security light pops on (the one of a car and a lock over it), only the Security Light doesn't go away. All that happens instantly. The engine is still running fine, and the stereo plays fine. The first time this happened, Thursday, the gauges then all go back to normal operation. Everything went back to normal, with the exception of the Security Light staying lit. No lose of engine power or CEL. But, if I stopped at a red light, turned the car off, took out the key, and opened the door... then closed the door and turned the car back on, the security light would go away. I drove around Thursday night, and this happened about 3 times. I drove Friday, and this didn't happen at all.

HOWEVER, I drove around today for a good hour... and then suddenly it happened. The gauges all went dead... and then you could see them start to rise back into normal operation, but then they died again... and wouldn't come back... with the car still running... I was driving with no dash. I usually have the DIC set to show me the Engine Coolant temperature... only now it read, (COOLANT ---*F)... nothing but dashes. SO, I stop at the red light... turn the car off... open the door, blah, blah, blah... running fine now.

I drive maybe 1/2 a mile down the road... and it doesn't it again. DEAD gauges. I turn the car off and try to reset it again... but this time when I start the car... it works fine for 5 seconds... then goes back to "DEAD" mode. So I go to turn into a Gas Station...

POWER STEERING IS GONE! What a bitch! I make it into the gas station somehow... stop the car... turn it off, get out, pop the hood and look at the ECU... looks fine. I push on the connections a little bit and they all seem snug. Shut the hood, get back in the car, start it up and take off. No problem. I drive around for 10 minutes, play with a Turbo Diesel... and go home... no problems. SOOO... I'm kind of clueless.

Is my ECU on its way out the door? Has anyone else had this problem?

 

definately sounds like ecu or an ignition short.

how repeatable is it?
if you can get it to the dealer and they can get it to happen im sure they could fix it up

 

that happened to me once also, except my whole car shut down, radio and the actual car turned off.. i took it to a shop because after that it was misfireing, and the only thing that was consistent in all the codes i had was a low voltage present at the time of the codes.. so the mechanic looked at my battery and the cable was so loose it was coming off, tightened it up and i have never had the problem again

 

That's what I thought... and I can't GUARANTEE that I or a dealer would be able to repeat it in a timely manner. I haven't figured it out... there doesn't seem to be any kind of trigger to it, like Left hand turns. I'm gonna take it to them tomorrow... but they are gonna drive it around for probable 15 minutes, and then say nothing is wrong with it.

Yeah... that's a power issue. But the engine is running fine... so I know it isn't the battery or the Alternator. If it was that, then yes, the whole car would shut down.