Hey Everyone,

The problems experienced are with my girlfriends Mazda 2000 Protege (about 90k miles) and unfortunately I haven't been around when it happens. All of this happens when she is at a stop light or stop sign, and has happened in situations in which the Air Conditioner is both on and off. Twice in hot weather, once at night in cold weather.

The problems began a few weeks ago when she was on her lunch break. While driving to get some food she noticed the check engine light was on, and about 5 minutes later she stopped at a red light. When the light turned green, she pushed on the gas pedal and the engine sputters for a second and then appears to die. When she pushed on the gas pedal nothing happens at all, and the engine is actually still running. She tries to stop the car, start it back up, but still has problems. So after 5 minutes stuck in the intersection with her hazard lights on and people zooming by, some ladies were nice enough to help her push the car to the side of the road. By the time I arrived 10 minutes later, the car was on the side of the road and turned off. We started it back up and the gas pedal worked fine, but the check engine light was still on. We drove the car directly to a mechanic who I've taken my cars to for a long time. He hooked a device up to check the car and I don't think he got any information from the device but was able to turn off the check engine light without really doing anything else.

A few days later the car dies in the same way, so she decides to take it to my mechanic again. After explaining to him what happens in more detail, my mechanic friend doesn't see how it's possible that the car can appear to die, the gas pedal doesn't respond, and all the while the engine continues to run. I know he isn't trying to be rude at all, but I just don't think he's come across this problem at all before. So my girlfriend decides to have a full tuneup done with the 100k mile check (since it's close to needing one anyways). So he changes out the following (please excuse my mistypes since I'm car-mechanically-challenged):

- Timing Belt, Water Pump, Alternator Belt, Power Steering Belt, AC Belt - he said all of these really needed to be changed

He also did a full tune up (new spark plugs, valves, valve covers, ?) and changed out therear breaks since they were at 20%. So she gets her car back today and it seems great. Tonight when she leaves my house guess what happens? She turns on the car the check engine light is on again. So she drives off anyways, and at a stop sign a few blocks from my house the car does the exact same thing as before. This time she is able to stop it and start it back up a couple times and the gas pedal works again.

So I'm searching on the Internet now to find things I can maybe suggest to my mechanic friend tomorrow. The only identical scenario I've found is where someone suggests that the problem could be caused by a faulty fuel pump. A few others say the timing belt needs to be adjusted, but that seems to be for problems that are similiar (car dies while moving, car revs up too much when gas is pressed, etc.) but not exactly the same.

Does anyone have suggestions as to what might be causing this? It has only happened when she has stopped, not while her car is moving. Any help appreciated!

JD