While driving, the air bag light on the dash board went on followed by the ABS light. When I stepped on the brake, all the dash board lights started to flicker and the car started to lose power. I tried to turn on the hazard light, but things got worse. It kept running long enough for me to pull into a parking lot, but all the dash board lights including those for the speed and tach went out. The dash board was totally black. Turned it off and waited about 10 minutes. It restarted but rode rough for about 5 minutes during which it didn’t have much power. Then, like passing a kidney stone, everything returned to normal. How do I fix this? Help.
Check battery cables and connections. Make sure each end of the cable is removed an the contact area cleaned. Sounds like something is an intermittent short. But because it seems to be really dropping the voltage it is either a large current or a fault in the alternator voltage regulator. Intermittent electrical stuff is very hard to find but I think the key is the large amount of current or the degree of grounding lost. You did not report any odors so I assume the issue is in the engine compartment.
I agree there is an intermittent problem in the electrical distribution system but I think the problem is due to a bad power connection rather than a short or faulty voltage regulator. The trouble may be with the ignition switch or a bad terminal connector in the power buss wiring.