Originally Posted by pizzaguy

Sounds like a computer glitch that you reset by removing power. You have not fixed anything (and I can tell that you already know that).

My bet is the car's battery or terminals on the battery cables - how much crud is there between the posts and terminals? How old is the battery? Is the ground cable all corroded at the bolt where it attaches to the chassis?

One thing that BUGS the HELL outta me about our cars is that there is no heavy ground cable to the engine block - the heavy ground goes to the chassis and we rely on the jumper from block to frame instead. My last car was doing a few weird things almost five years ago. I replaced the battery ground cable with one that was about 36 inches long and had the lighter pigtail for the chassis (like other cars). I installed it, with a BIG lug on the small wire and attached it to the chassis near the battery. I took the HEAVY lead and ran it to a bolt on the engine - I can't remember where I ran it, but I made sure the HEAVY cable went to the engine block.

THe car ran for over 60,000 miles like that with no more oddball issues.

I'd change the damn battery and take a GOOD LOOK at the battery cables.