Hey All,

Well, the Bonne is giving us a little trouble. Here'* what'* happened so far.

Driving along, and the dash lights (ses, security, etc) came on, and the gauges did the sweep that they do upon inital startup. Engine didn't miss a beat though.

Later that same trip, as I was turning into a parking space, sharp right turn, the engine shut off, the radio shut off, everything just went dead. Car coasted to a stop. Started right back up with no issue.

A couple weeks later, making a fairly aggressive turn out before oncoming traffic, to the right again, the engine sputters and chugs, and the "security" ligh on the dash came on. That was the only one I noticed. I backed off the throttle a bit, and then acceleerated more evenly, and it ran fine.

A couple days ago, my wife started the car and began to pull from her parking space. Slow left turn, and the engine shut off. She restarted, and moved about 10 feet, and it shut off again. After re-starting again, it ran fine all the way home, and then out to dinner after when she wanted me to drive it.

Seems like I've got something loose or shorting. Is my best chance just letting my dealer'* service department try and find this trouble? The fact that it'* an occasional issue worries me, at their $$/hour electrical diagnostic fee. But I can't have a car that decides to shut itself down on it'* own, so I've gotta do something. I've taken it out for a drive, trying to recreate the situations, and have not been able to, so far.

Love to hear if anyone has any ideas. Thanks!!

Check the tightness and condition of Positve and Negative battery cables, and the battery terminals themselves. Make sure the battery is also clamped down properly. Loose or corroded cables or bad/loose connections can lead to the shut off/restart symptoms you have described.

While you are at it on the battery cables..pull them and take off the booties..look under for corrosion. Then clean all ends of all cables.

Also look under carpet on driver and passenger sides by front doors for wetness.

I second all that Echo and Boost have said above. Do those things and then see what happens. Report back to us in either case.

Wow. When I read the first post, I actually thought to myself: "Did I write this?" I've been having these same problems in my 95 SE, right down to the security light on the dash! I can drive for days and it won't happen, but when it does act up, it won't stop. I have found that it tends to happen when I hit the brakes, blinker, windows, etc. pretty much anytime an extra strain is put on the electrical system.

jtluttrell, looks like you should follow the advice listed above. Pay particular attention to the ground connector under the driver'* side carpet, as I notice in your sig that you had quite a bit of wetness at one time.

Wow, thanks for the replies everyone. I feared it was going to be something like demonic posession or something, but it sounds like I have a few things I can actually try and check on my own!!

I've never noticed any dampness on the floor, is it leaking from outside (like rain) that I'd be looking for? There'* ground connectors UNDER the carpet in front? That is a strange place to put something like that, interesting. Will I recognize something like that if I pull the carpet back?

I have put a new positive battery cable on, about 4 months ago. Old one had coroded almost all the way thru, there were only 3 or 4 strands still connected, and I had some of the same symptoms back then. But now I know that both cables are clean and tight. I will double-check, just to make sure they still are at least.

I never experienced any stalling at idle. One thing I know is, I have the incorrect battery hold-down bolt. Lost mine on a cold winter day when I had to pull the battery and bring it inside to warm up. I have something close in there now, but it isn't as tight a fit as the original. I did try shaking the battery around while the car was running to see if I could re-create the issue that way, but it didn't cause any problems at the time.

Thanks again for the ideas. I'll probably try some of these things this weekend and post back my results.

Here TDS, this is a pic of that Ground Buss connector.

AWESOME!!!! Thanks a LOT for that picture, really clears up what I'm looking for.