1989 PA Complete Electrical Failure

Last night as I was driving home from the store, I tried testing out the heating in my car. This was the first time I've run the heater since I bought it in May so I wanted to see how well it worked. I turned it on when I was about 5 minutes away from my house and continued to let it run. When I pulled into my driveway, my car completely shut off. Everything shut down at once and wouldn't turn back on. It was still in drive when it happened so I had to coast to a stop. I tried turning the ignition switch and nothing happened. The lights, radio, trunk, even the power doorlocks all stopped functioning. Today I attempted to jumpstart the car, thinking that it was probably the battery that had died, but even that didn't help. I'm at a loss as to why this could have happened, because before I turned the heater on it was working fine, so I think it has something to do with that. Thanks for any help or advice on how to fix the problem.

A couple of details that I left out:

1. Sometimes it will shut off when I am driving down the road (this is even with the heater off) and I'll have to put it in park and restart the car. This has happened maybe three times in the past two months.

2. It has 130,000 miles on it (3800) and was last serviced in June when I had the fuel pump replaced as well as oil change and trans fluid flush.

You need to download the fault codes from the computer. A major problem such as this would have left a code of the sensor/circuit having the problem.
If an Autozone is nearby, they'll read the codes for free. Alternately, you can do it yourself. It just requires jumping one connector with wire.

The link below contain instructions on how it is done.

http://www.geocities.com/dann8785/serviceenginesoon.html

You need to download the fault codes from the computer. A major problem such as this would have left a code of the sensor/circuit having the problem.
If an Autozone is nearby, they'll read the codes for free. Alternately, you can do it yourself. It just requires jumping one connector with wire.

The link below contain instructions on how it is done.

http://www.geocities.com/dann8785/serviceenginesoon.html


Thanks, I'm going to try this when I get home from work, I'll update as soon as I have the codes available

Ok problem is solved. What happened was the threads between the battery cable screws on the negative line had begun to strip, causing the cable to make a poor connection to the battery. I replaced the stripped screws with a brand new one, and voila the car is working again with no problems, and as an added bonus it seems that the car now receiving its full power supply is driving better than its ever driven since I bought it!! Increased horsepower, a real good hum to the engine, its driving like it is supposed to. Thanks to whoever posted the fault codes site, because now when I DO have a real problem, I'll know where to get started.