ok.. more narrowing down: When it dies, does it die instantly as if you turned the key off, or does it die more slowly, stuttering and hesitating at first before it turns off completely? Full tank or near empty when it happens, or does it matter?

I'm starting to think fuel delivery blockage that clears up when the pump is stopped (restarting the engine), and then after a while the same piece of debris gets sucked in the fuel line somewhere again. Possibly the pickup tube in the fuel tank.

Have you ever had any dirt or foreign particles (anything other than gasoline) in the fuel tank?

Edited by Jan Andersson on 9/1/2009 at 3:56 AM

<p>Does it restart normally? </p><p> </p><p>If it were a fuel problem, I would expect a slower dying, like you have when you run out of gas. Sputters, surges, very poor throttle repsonse that quickly gets even worse, then coming to a stop as the fuel pressure in the line drops to zero. This would take maybe several seconds. </p><p> </p><p>An instant shut-off could be electrical. An ignition coil or computer maybe. </p><p> </p><p>It's a hard problem to troubleshoot if they can't make it happen at the shop. They could have testers connected to the vehicle and see which component or system fails when it dies. Since it restarts instantly, I'm leaning towards an electrical problem now, but without being able to get my hands on the vehicle, I can't really go much further. </p><p> </p><p>A diagnostic computer should be able to read "pending" trouble codes too that haven't yet been recorder as confirmed faults. These types of faults need to occur more than once to be "taken seriously" by the computer. If there are enough drive cycles in between these faults, the "count" is reset and the Check Engine light doesn't come on. </p><p> </p><p>I take it that yours is not on, and no codes were found.. </p><p> </p><p>I'll opt out now so other experts could also join the discussion and help out. </p>