Thought the topic would grab some attention.
I've got a 1981 280zx non-turbo, auto tranny, with about 124k miles on it.
So for about 3 years now, the car would randomly shut off while I was driving. Didn't matter how fast I was going, what the temperature outside was, the time of day, how much fuel I had, what day of the week it was, what mood I was in...
The solution was to just turn it over again and it would start right back up. Usually, I could be doing 70 on the freeway, and it could die, I could put it in neutral and coast while I restarted it. Or I could be sitting at a stoplight and the same thing would happen.
Over time, it got progressively worse. It wouldn't immediately start back up, it might take a few tries. Eventually it got to the point where sometimes I couldn't start it back up. I got it towed 3 times, and by the time I got it back to the house... the car would start fine. I could not figure it out... there was no consistency.
I replaced the ignition coil, the fuel pump, the fuel filter, spark plugs, spark plug wires, distributor, ignition switches. Nothing helped the problem. After doing all of this, and leaving the ignition switch dangling beneath the steering wheel while driving because I was in the middle of operations... I was driving along, and the car died. I lifted the ignition switch to put my key in to start it, and to my surprise, just by MOVING the switch, the car sprung back to life as if it had never shut off. So I drove around for a year like that... shaking my ignition switch whenever it would die while I was driving.
Now... it's worse. Not even that works anymore... immediately. I may have to sit at the side of the road shaking wires beneath my dash for 5-20 minutes hoping that some magic will fix it. And so far, it has... but I predict that the condition is getting worse and soon it won't.
Now... onto odd symptoms and things I've noticed.
When the car dies, and I attempt to restart it, the starter motor works.
There is no spark when it is in the "no-start" condition at the coil.
The tachometer does not even jump when the starter is running (it does when it starts correctly.)
I have run a wire directly from the BW wire at the ignition switch to the coil, thinking there was a discontinuity in the harness. Did not work.
I've posted about this problem on a few other forums. It boggles me. Anyone have a clue?