Original problem was the air bag warning light was on (the one on the driver display, not the one by the glovebox). After watching that for a couple of weeks I concluded it is random. It lights up, along with all the other dash warning lights, when the key is first turned but it goes off as it should as soon as the car starts. While I am driving the light will sometimes come on, sometimes not. Sometimes it comes on within 2 or 3 minutes, sometimes it can be 15 minutes or half an hour. Most times it does not come on at all. It goes out just as randomly as it goes on; it may go out after a minute or an hour or maybe not until the car is turned off.

Yesterday I was watching the dash too closely looking for that air bag light when the car in front of me stopped suddenly. I hit the brakes more quickly than normal and the pedal was very hard to budge and I heard the ABS clacking away like crazy but the car was barely braking. In a panic I pulled my foot off the brake and mashed it down again as hard as I could and thankfully it braked normally, stopping about an inch from the car in front of me. Within a second or two the ABS warning light came on. Something wrong with the braking system? I think I knew that.

Once my heart slowed back down I headed for home on the scenic route with fewer stop signs and traffic. I tried the brakes at least a dozen times, slow stops, panic stops, hard stops while turning, everything was perfectly normal. Until... the car hesitated. Unrelated to the braking, just driving along the car suddenly lost power. Not all power and only for a second or less, but very noticeable. Then it happened again. And again. And then it lasted a few seconds and then much longer. I pulled over and the car idled perfectly. I put it in neutral and hit the gas and the engine raced, as it should. I put it back in Drive and hit the gas and it really lumbered to get up to speed. It took maybe a minute or more to get to 35MPH. As it did the Check Engine light came on. Something wrong with the engine? I think I knew that.

After about a mile at 35 or 40 MPH I had the gas pedal near the floor to maintain speed on a flat road. It was a 95 degree day so thinking it might be heat related I pulled over and shut it off. As I pulled over the Check Engine light went from solid to flashing. After a 10 minute cool down I started the car up and the Check Engine light was back to being on solidly, not flashing. Again it idled fine but I had the gas pedal near the floor to get the car to go from 0 to 35 MPH in about a minute. When the Check Engine light started flashing again I pulled over, shut it down, and walked the last mile home to get my code scanner.

An hour later, back at the car, I read codes:

C1165 = Right rear wheel speed sensor
P0302 = Misfire on Cylinder 2
P0352 = Ignition Module malfuntion, Cylinder 2
P1314 = Misfire rate high on bank 2, Catalyst can be damaged
P1316 = Misfire rate high, excess emissions

I drive the last mile home, again the Check Engine light started flashing but with only 1/4 mile to go I just threw it in neutral and coasted into the driveway.

One odd thing, after it cooled down I backed it into the carport and the sensor that warns about backing into something does nothing as I back into the woodpile. 99.99% of the time that thing is too sensitive, now it doesn't work at all?

Today I open the hood and notice there is no coolant at all in the reservoir. I add a pint+ and it seems OK, after a few cycles of warming up the engine the reservoir still has coolant in it so it seems like it was low but not empty.

Did some research here on the forum and decided the first order of business was to swap the coils from cylinder 2 & 4. I can get to cylinder 2 without removing anything so I take the coil off and remove the plug. The plug looks fine which was a relief since I put new plugs in last year, but it smelled like unburned gas.

Now I have to remove the air cleaner housing to get at cylinder 4. One of the screws holding the top housing down was really rusty and completely strips out as soon as I try and turn it, the top just turns to dust. Go get the Dremel, cut that one off, and now I need to remove those 2 screws under the air filter that hold the lower housing to the intake. Both of those are so rusted the heads strip out too. I manage to get one off by cutting a slot with the Dremel and using a flathead screwdriver but the other one doesn't have enough metal left. I look it all over carefully and decide I can remove the hood latch which holds the air inlets then maybe I can slide the hood latch, air inlets, and lower air filter housing forward a few inches to get at cylinder 4. There are 4 screws holding that latch and of course one of the heads just snaps off when I twist it. I am now about 2 hours into what should be a 15 minute procedure to swap coils and I am looking at another few hours to fix the broken screw so I can safely close the hood again.

So my question is this: With the air bag warning light coming on intermittenly is it safe to drive the car into a tree to collect the insurance?