I have a 2002 Mazda Protoge (I hate this little car - it drives like a go-cart) that my kids mostly drive. Lately it has developed a weird problem where the engine shuts off for a few seconds. It might only shut off for about a second, in which case the momentum of the engine starts it back up again, or it may shut off for 4 or 5 seconds, requiring an engine restart. The problem never lasts for more than a few seconds.
It’s fairly intermittent, but it’s getting more frequent. It started out happening once every several months or so, then about once a month. Now if I drive the car to work (about a 45 min drive one way) it might happen or it might not, but will usually happen on either the drive to or from work. In other words, it might make it one way (45 min) without a problem, but it usually won’t go all the way to work and back without the problem occurring at least once.
When it goes, all of the dash lights go out, the engine stalls, but the radio and blower motor still have power.
When it’s not happening, everything on the car works perfectly fine.
It’s a 4 cyl. automatic.
It’s thrown 3 codes so far:
P0705 Neutral safety switch circuit malfunction
P0117 Engine coolant temp sensor circuit low input
P0768 A/T shift solenoid ?D? circuit malfunction
My (possibly faulty) understanding of the neutral safety switch is that it shouldn’t cause the engine to shut off if it has a problem. There’s no coolant problem. The last code is possibly for the shift inhibit solenoid? (that’s a question). If so, the worst that should do is prevent the car from shifting out of park. It shouldn’t cause this either.
What the heck is actually broken on this thing?