I just got off of work and drove home.
When I got home, I parked and did my normal routine of rolling up windows, turning down the radio, e.g.
When I turned the car off I heard a pop in the speakers and when I opened the door the overhead light didn’t come on.
I jumped back in and turned the ignition to accessory, NOTHIN!
I wish I could get this done tonight but its 1am, the cars on the curb, and I don’t have a work light.
This probably has nothing to do with it, but i noticed yesterday that i needed to give my brake sensor a nudge before shifting out of park.
okay… this is weird… I went out to the car to grab my jump box to make sure its charged in case someone suggests that… and the car works.
no dash lights came on when you turned the ignition back on? that is not a module, that is the battery dead. Since it worked a few minutes later, it’s probably not the battery but a connection to the battery.
First thing to try: Take off the battery cables and check for corrosion. Check both ends. Or have someone do that for you.
There is also a fusible link between the battery and the rest of the electronics. Check that also. (edit, cancel this, not if the power came back on later)
Some cars use resettable fuses (breaker really) that will trip under load but reset after a period. Perhaps that is what happened here. Look for main fuse feeding chassis electrical. It’s intermittant now and no telling when or if it will occur again so troubleshooting it will be difficult.
A faulty ignition switch can cause a problem like this.
I went through 2 switches on my old Sable before figuring out why. The cabin blower motor current is all routed through the ignition switch.
With miles, age, and a dragging blower motor the switch can burn up internally. Poor design. The blower current should have been routed through a relay instead of the switch.
It sounds like there’s a problem with the connection to the battery. Clean and tighten the two battery post connectors. While you are doing that, visually inspect the cable, especially right near the connectors, for signs of fraying, damage, eaten by battery acid, etc. If that doesn’t do the trick, re-do the connection for the battery to chassis ground. Make sure that’s connected to nice shiny metal where it attaches to the chassis. Measure the battery voltage with a volt meter first of course. It should be around 12.6 volts at 65-75 degrees.
