So every once in a while, I'd pop in the car, turn key to start, and then dash lights flash on and then off to nothing. All lights and electrical will be off, key would do nothing, switches do nothing. Just frozen and dead.
Only sign of any life is the red "alarm" light on gear shift and red lights above Oil and Battery gauges (I have the 3 gauge, not navi).
Battery is brand spank new high end 4 year guarantee Bosch, 2 months old.
When it does start, its right away with barely a crank. So that's not the issue.
Cure is to pop Neg cable off battery and touch it to Pos post, re-attach then we are all green!
Doesnt happen regularly, but enough to carry a 10mm ratchet in truck with me always.

Anyone else ever gets this lil gremlim?

 

Do you have to do the hard reset or will just removing and reattaching the negative battery cable work?

Reason I ask is I had the same issue, turned out to be the negative battery cable, got a new one for $10 from the local auto parts store and now 2 years with no more issues.

Stock one looked fine but had a tendisy to corrode at the terminal.

Just a cheap suggestion to try.

 

I had a similar problem. Does the end of the ground cable get hot ? I replaced my ground strap with a heavy duty solid cable and no problems since. Cheap fix.

 

Hey THOSE answers are great! The neg terminal is clean, but the ground cable is this unshielded braided cable, like an engine ground cable. Always thought that was weird, and never seen that in any car before.
Prob a factory penny pitch, gonna change out that sucka today. Thank you!

 

I think last time, I didnt do hard reset, by accident, and it worked. Always did hard reset cuz I figured to had something to do with immobilizer, and car thought it was being stolen.

 

It is not only the braided ground cable that may be your problem.

While tracing a similar problem, I noticed that the red positive cable from the battery to the high current fuses became very hot, 50C (120F). It seems this cable may degrade inside without any visible signs.

It is also a thin walled battery clamp which is not very rugged. Changed the whole with a generic more robust clamp and cable.

In addition, underneath your car approximately where the gearbox meets the engine, you have a braided ground to the chassis. Worth checking.

 

There are positive connections on the bulkhead fittings in the engine compartment and a ground cable from the right rear of the bellhousing to the frame that often are a problem. Follow the positive battery cable to the two main fuses in the forward part of the spare tire well and make sure those connections are good.

It's often not enough to just check that all these various connections are tight, but that the terminals are clean and free of corrosion.

 

Agree to all above but my money is on the battery negative cable being the problem as when the OP plays/disconnects it and reconnects the problem goes away.

 

So here's what i did.
I do have an engine ground, but its on top, didnt see one under. And yeah the battery connections are really cheap. Even my old Saab has more robust connections. Anyways, I took off braided cable and made it tight, so no braids were loose, as it was. I then tightly wrapped it with electrical tape and cloth tape. But while putting it back on, the screw post sheared off! then I noticed the screw post holder(?) is just lightly welded to body! The connection is no better than other common earth grounds, what crap! So I used the upper bolt to hold fuse box for the connection. This bolt goes into and threw the body. Should be a much better connection now.
So many times, I find myself shaken my head at how badly things were made in the car.

 

I posted about the exact problem last year or even the year before. It must be happening to others more often because these are new fixes then in my post. I was told check battery and connection. Going to try these other possible fixes.

 

Julian
Same issue on my 03 XKR, turn the key and nothing, the temp fix is a hard restart. Is your fix still working?
Thanks
Pete