Hello again forum folk back again with hopefully another quirk that your collective minds might have good advice on.

For the last few months the car has on occasion, as in twice a week. Th engine will just shut down. the rpm gauge will drop instantly to zero and the dash lights come up as if the car was in the On position. I do see a check engine light on after the engine dies but I also have always seen the check engine light on if the key is in the On position but the engine is not running.

Things I know about the problem:

1.When the engine dies it will not restart even after many 5 or so second cranks on the starter.

2. The coil wire on the cap has spark during the period that the car refuses to start.

3. I tried turning the key on and off a few times thinking the fuel pump was not spinning. although I can hear a whirrrrr coming from the passenger rear wheel area when the key is put into the on position. It did not seem to help start the car at all though trying to "pump up" the fuel system by turning the key on and off

4. after about a minute or two the car will eventually just start with a roar and resume a 850ish RPM idle in park, And will drive perfectly fine after this episode. ive only on 1 occasion had the car die again just a few hundred feet up the road.

5. when the engine dies it does not sputter then die. its straight to zero rpm as if ignition had been cut. when the engine starts it does not hit a few times then sputter to a start. it instantly starts up and resumes idle normally.

6. Ive replaced all the vacuum lines on the car as well as the spark plugs cap and rotor with bosch stock replacement parts. again though I get spark to the cap but I have not had a chance to see if it gets spark to a plug while the car is in its temp dead state.

7. These cars don't come with cup holders? WTF kind of bull is that? How many times have people spilled their coffie accelerating too fast when the cup is resting in that center console area under the arm rest. AND NO dont tell me you put the seat at such an angle that the arm rest pushes down on the top of your cup.


Hopefully this all is enough info to hear some ideas of what could be causing this. Thanks everyone.