I've seen quite a few posts about cars with intermittent stalling problems, with fixes ranging from a relay to fuel pump to battery connections. One of these may be my fix, but I could use some guidance on which one to start with. The difference between my problem and some of the others I've seen here is that the stalling is accompanied by a loss of electrical power.

It began happening a few weeks ago, but -- of course -- nothing happened while it was at my mechanic's shop. He did some tests, but didn't find anything. He replaced the battery (which was old anyway) as a longshot fix, but that wasn't it.

The problem occurs both while the car is moving or when parked. It generally happens when the car is idling low, like when it first starts or I come to a stop and shift into park. It has happened even after I shut the car off, and I only knew it happened because the power door locks wouldn't work.

So far, it has always fixed itself within either a few seconds or a few minutes at most. It just clicks and things turn on again. Once it happened while driving, but the car didn't quite stall. I know the electrical was lost, since I had to reset the preset stations on the radio.

It seems to happen more often when there is a heavier electrical load, like heater, lights, cd player, wipers and butt-warmer all on at once, with the brake lights perhaps the kicker -- or maybe it's the shifting into gear that pushes it over the edge.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Kevin