All the gauges on the dash will die for a second and the engine cuts out and the car jerks then it will come back on and everything is fine. Sometimes the gauges turn off completely and the car will die and will not start for several minutes. I will try to start the engine but it will not start until the dash lights come back on. The first time this happened to me I changed the air filter and the car ran fine for a month. So when it happened again I took my air filter out put it back in and again the car worked fine for a couple of weeks. Now It doesn’t help to mess with the air filter at all. The car is cutting out more and more. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Have the alternator, battery and battery terminals checked. Most auto parts stores do this for free. (or diy)
Check engine light on?
This is definately an electrical problem. One suspect is the ignition switch itself. Do you have a “heavy” key ring, meaning lots of keys on the ring with the ignition key? Heavy key rings can damage the ignition switch. It seems like the contacts for the “on” position of the ignition switch are worn, loose, or for some reason not making contact. Another possible is a bad ground wire from the battery to the motor, or even a bad battery positive cable. Sometimes the cables rust and rot internally and don’t look bad, but are unable to conduct power properly. Removing the cables at both ends and cleaning them can help. But a bad cable has to be replaced.