okay, I had been driving around for a bit on saturday, and turned off my car to run into my house for a second. I came back out and turned the key, and it went dead. And i mean DEAD-no lights, no dash indicators, all needles at zero, no cranking, just dead. it was like i unplugged the battery. so i sat there in shock for 20 seconds, and then suddenly all the power came back on. so, of course i tried cranking again. it killed everything again. I checked all the fuses in both fuse blocks, all are okay. it took a day for the power to return the second time, but i dont want to try it again if somethings wrong. my opti has been about to die on me for a couple weeks now, so i would really like to hope that that is my problem, but all of the other times it failed, it didnt do this. please-anyone with any idea what could be wrong, please drop a line. I dont even know where to start, since this is one thing that hasnt happened before.

thanks!
cody

ps-just tried turning the key to the "on" position without cranking, and it died again.

 

I'd check battery, terminals, ground connections (near red "+" box), etc. Seems to me smth loose. May be smth got grounded, but it's more unlikely, as all fuses good. Opti can't produce that effect.

 

definitley the battery. Check the voltage if you have a voltage tester or go to advance auto parts or autozone and they can check it fir you. It has to be the battery from the symptoms you describe.

 

check all the connections at the battery for good contact like said above. take the termonals off and look for corosion, inspect all the battery grounds and hot junctions near the battery like stated also. other then that you will need to start looking at an issue with the ign switch

 

your alternator could have taken a dump also. Could have stopped charging the battery while you were driving, causing the battery to die.

 

it's hard to tell from the post but.. if he means that it has power and then when he turns the key to start the power goes out then yes it would seem that the battery is very low and the power from the starter trying to engage is drawing any reserve left in teh battery. a simple test with a multimeter would tell you battery voltage. if it;s under 12 volts you have a charging system or draw issue

 

Like some of the others have said, check for a loose battery connection.