I had driven the car for over an hour when suddenly the car stopped and the entire electrical system was dead. I sat there for 15 minutes, then started the engine and drove home with all systems working. Please help--what should I look for to prevent this from happening again?
Those cars have triplet battery cables, meaning that there are three cables going to the positive battery terminal. Corrosion can build up inside those cable terminals, causing occasional or intermittent isolation.
And, you can't tell by looking. You have to open them up and inspect them closely.
This is where I would start
Battery cables will not do that if the alternator is still working. Everything would seam fine until he shut the car off. Then it would just not start. I have removed batteries with the car running and the car continues to run. A heat related problem in the engine control module would kill the engine, but would not account for the other electrical failures. If you had BOTH problems, that might explain your symptoms. The easiest way to check for corrosion in a wire is to disconnect one end and use an ohm meter. If the wire inside the insulation is corroded, the resistance will be high. On a battery cable, there should be less than 2 ohms resistance. If the meter says K ohms, replace the wire immediately.
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