I have a 1998 Protege LX with 112,000 miles on it and am experiencing a strange problem. I realize that it would be extremely difficult to diagnoze a problem without looking at the car, but I want to see if I am experiencing a known problem, or if somebody might know a specific cause, other than that I have an electrical problem. lol Occasionally (maybe once out of 10 or 15 times I drive the car) the car seems to go completely dead. No instrument lights, no courtesy light, the door locks don't work, the clock and preset radio stations reset as if there is an open somewhere. It does not occur while I am driving, only after I turn the car off, or when I attempt to turn the ignition on. When it does occur, if I hold the key in the start position and slam the door closed the car starts fine and I experience no further problems till the next random (at least it seems random) time it occurs. The problem has never occured while the car is running, at least not yet. So far slamming the car door a little harder than usual revives the car from the dead. If there is an open, it has not caused the battery to be drained. Once I slam the door it is as if nothing has ever happen, except resetting the clock and presets on the stereo. If anyone has anything to add, I would greatly appreciate it. I have had 3 Protege's (92 DX, 94DX and this 98LX) they are great cars. This is the first problem I have had with any of them.

 

The plot thickens....Today I was driving the car and stopped to run into my house and get something. I left the car running and in neutral (it is a 5 speed.) and pushed the power door lock button to unlock the doors. When I did, the radio, dash lights and everything electrical in the interior of the car went dead. But the car was still running and idling normally. I closed the door hard and all the electrical things can back on. Then also today when I was driving down the road, everything electrical on the inside of the car went dead. Again the engine was running normally, I was able to accelerate without a problem. After a couple seconds the electrical came back on. I expiremented a little as I was driving down the road and pushed the power door lock button, and when I did my tachometer jumped from 3000 RPM to 8000 RPM and then back to 3000 RPM (the engine was running at 3000 RPM before I pushed the button.) The speed of my engine did not increase at all, just the RPM guage jumped around.

 

Well just like Fxxxing Magic, the problem has disappeared. It has been almost two weeks and the problem has not reoccurred. The only thing I did to the car was to replace one of my headlights. The low beam on one of the headlights was out. I really can't see why a headlight would cause this type of problem, but if it doesn't happen again I will not complain.