There was a 20 degree drop in temperature between the start and end of the day. As soon as I started the engine and drove, the engine performance was fine, but I had the following combination of oddities:

1. Indicator light would blink rapidly only on the dashboard as though a bulb was out. I checked outside. No bulbs were out and no change in EXTERNAL blinking frequency.
2. Fuel gauge needle was right at zero (and I know it was at least 3/4 full), with a "fuel sensor malfunction" message...or something like it.
3. Red oil light was on. Oil was changed a week ago and level is fine.
4. Loss of climate control in the car and temperature defaulted to 72 degrees F (this would temporarily work again if engine was restarted).

I filled the tank full with gas, and all of these gremlins immediately vanished as mysteriously as they came.

I did find an old thread via google at the roadside on my smart phone which discussed the combination of #1, #2, and #4, but for the life of me I can no longer find it....I used the exact fuel gauge error message in the search field which, in hindsight, I should have written down.

Battery is new. There were no codes.

Does anyone have an explanation for this odd combination?

2003 STR ~49K miles

If battery is OK, probably power/ground fault. Maybe damp/water involved. Go looking or wait and see if it recurs.

Thanks. Why then would the problem persist after multiple engine restarts, but then vanish as soon as the gas tank was filled? (has been fine after multiple engine restarts).

Coincidence.

See if it recurs and if the gas fixes it again.

No, there's a thread on this (3/4 on the list I posted). The search function here is really not good so I can't locate it again.

Any insight from anyone else?

Bad earth in the fuel sender circuit? Sender at full tank gives lower resistance path to earth? If other circuits share the same earth point they will find an earth via the sender. It's the only thing I could guess at.