One for the experts.. Rodeo engine just stopping

[robertgarven]

Dear Friends,

My amazing daily driver that I've had from new and plan on keeping forever did something really weird today that I've never had happened before. It's never given me any kind of real problems but today when we were leaving a parking lot, the engine just kind of sputtered the RPMs went to zero and the engine died. A couple of volunteers help me push it into a parking space and I was checking under the hood.

The engine would crank so I figured it's not the battery, or the starter. I didn't hear any banging around inside the engine so I figured it's no internal parts, etc. I spent around 10 minutes trying to get it started and calling a tow truck. I have one of those green battery disconnects on the vehicle for when I'm working on it, so I unscrewed it and left the battery unhooked for a few minutes. I re-hooked the battery and the engine started up normally and drove us home 5 miles on the freeway just like nothing was wrong. I pulled in front of my house, unloaded the car hoping that it was maybe just kind of hiccup in the engine computer (if it even has one). I tried to start the car again and the same thing happened it fired up for around two or three seconds and just puttered out like there's no fuel or spark making it to the engine? Thinking it worked once I disconnected the battery, let it sit for a few minutes tried to fire it up again and nothing, car turns over fine just no starting.

Like a lot of you I'm an amateur mechanic and I have a couple 70's sports cars, I do all the work on, but they don't have any computers in them at all. I always joke the newest electronic technology they have is either a fuse or a relay.

I don't have a code reader, but a friend of mine is coming over tomorrow with one, but I was hoping one of the experts here might see the symptoms and have an idea of what's going wrong. Every time I come to this form, you guys have helped me out, whether it's fixing my transmission selector, re-soldering a special part on the circuit board to make my windshield wipers work, etc., so I'm hoping someone has an idea on what I can check, or what could be the most obvious culprit. I know there's a bunch of relays and fuses right next to the battery in the engine compartment, but wondering if there's some kind of computer that may have something in it that's failing or a relay that's dying. All I know is that after I unhooked the battery, the car started up and drove fine for 10 minutes before stopping and exhibiting the same type of malfunction it had earlier.

Thanks so much in advance for any help or advice.

Rob

1998 Rodeo V6 4WD auto
non limited slip differential