I have owned three of these cars. And I have never run into a problem like this. Be prepared its a long story!
I recently was driving my car out to the lake on hot summer day. I turn into the marina. And the car shuts off. But has power.The temp gauge was all the way on hot. There was NO smell of burning coolant or oil. But I did start to smell electric fire. And noticed a small amount of smoke coming out near my fog light switch. This all happened within seconds of the car shutting down. I got the car to a stop. I made sure I hadnt blown a head gasket. There was no leak anywhere. I let the car sit shut off no power. For a very short time. No more the 5 minutes. I cranked it over and it ran. The temp gauge was ok. It was like nothing ever happened. The fogs worked too! I drove the car home carefully. On the way I picked an ECT sensor up and a gasket for my fail safe thermostat.
The next day. I was hell bent on replacing the ect sensor, and the thermostat. I did everything correctly the way a mechanic would do it. I got the car running later that evening. It was cool outside. I take the car for a short spin. Up to the corner gas station to get a peach soda. I get going accelerating. No more then 30mph, and I hear a tiny clicking noise. Coming from either the cluster or the kick panel fuse box. Somewhere in that area. The car also felt kinda like it had a stumble. So then I was really alert. But nothing happened. When I got to the station. I then left the car on, neutral, with e brake on. Came out, and reversed. The temp gauge went to hot. But I then went to first, and drove away. And right back down to normal temp it went. That was all the driving I did.
This morning. I went to the bank atm. Left it on, and as soon as I left. Everytime I put my foot on the brake pedal and engaged braking. That temp gauge went to hot. But there was no smell of fumes. Nothing. I shut it off for a few seconds and fired up again. The ecu or something on the other side of me was making a very high pitch beep. But went away. I drove it home carefully. Then I arrive home. Shut it off and then it gets even nuttier. The ecu or something started making even weirder noises. The temp gauge was hot. The seat belt got tight. And this was all while the key was off. I turned the car on and off. The temp would go up and then down. Everytime. And everytime there was a weird nose making coming from the passenger side.
People say I have some kind of short somewhere… I dont even know where to begin to start looking. I have pulled all my fuses in the kick panel out to check if blown. No. I also removed each plug and relay to see if the connectors are burnt. But nothing!
Have any of you had the same problem as me. Or can any of you offer me advice as to where to further investigate?