On several occasions while driving my dashboards lights begin to flicker (go out completely) along with my radio, dome light and even my headlights. It happened once several months ago and never happened again until just a couple days ago while driving at night. The dashboard lights and radio will do off completely and then come back in within a couple seconds. Sometimes it would be every light, including the radio, while other times it would only be the lights to the central console (radio and ac/vent controls), or the gear shift slights only, or the dashboard only. A few times when everything came back on I will get a warning chime (five or six chimes in succession) but no warning lights displaying. Once when it had happened earlier in the day and I was idling in a parking lot the car did shut off but started right up. Other than the car shutting off the one time there does not seem to be any perforce issue with the car/engine. Is this a possible alternator issue? Loose wire connections? Blown fuse censor? All of the above. When I drove the day after the car appeared to be possessed, nothing happened during an 8 hour period. Thoughts?

 

There are different electronic modules serving different functions like lights, radio instruments etc., and a body control module that is also part of the string/network. Sometimes one can malfunction and affect the performance of some others.
Before condemning any one of them certain tests need to be done to confirm good power and ground connections within the vehicle starting right at the battery and going from there. Also , what we might call Gremlins get loose in the electronics and a "Forced Reset " allows them to leave. If you don't wish to do any work on your vehicle , you might ask your favorite service place to perform a forced reset and see if that helps.

 

Great information.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I shared your comments with the mechanic looking into the problem and he also appreciated your input. It's a hard problem to find considering it has only happened on two occasions with months apart. Again, thanks.

 

So the garage that checked my Explorer said there were no issues with the battery and alternator, voltage range was inline, wires and grounds looked good, yet they got back a number of memory codes when they ran various 'tests' (for lack of a better word). Codes ranged from a B1318 low battery voltage at module to a U1900 ABS CAN Communication BUS Fault. My take on this is that the memory codes simply captured what was happening when the dashboard circuits were acting up but don't point to a specific cause which is why the garage was not able to 'fix' anything because they could not find anything wrong. I guess now I just wait to see if the situation ever happens again.

 

hmmm well thanks for the updates.