So this car has been all kinds of interesting since early last week.

After starting the car cold (but not every single time), after backing out of my driveway or parking spot at work, going forward to the next place I come to a complete stop, the SRS, TRACS, and trans (up arrow), and service lights all turn on. At the same time, the trans goes into 3rd, much akin to 'winter' mode, I can still shift freely to neutral, reverse, etc.

These things make me think trans problem.

But, while this happens, it seems the alternator is not producing enough current. When I start up the car, everything seems fine, as soon as it starts mis-behaving, anything electronic has problems. Lights dim, stereo will actually shut off, wipers are slow. Alternator light does *not* turn on.

Then, 30-90 seconds later (moving along slowly now, trans is in 3rd gear), the trans and TRACS lights shut off, the wipers speed up to normal, lights become bright, car downshifts to the appropriate gear, and it's like nothing happened.

After that (usually) if the car is warm and I re-start it, no problems. Every couple of times though, I will have the same problems again.

I have yet to be able to reliably re-create this problem, which makes troubleshooting oh-so-fun, but I will take any advice I can get, I'm tired of my nice car not being reliable (I have become too accustomed to heated seats )

 

Sure sounds electrical to me... like a loose battery/ground cable somewhere.

Has anyone done any electrical work on it recently?

 

I had the alternator out the other week, but the point of that was to check the voltage regulator and wiring, which all checked out. Cables are all tight, connections all secure and corrosion-free. Next week I am going to replace my battery, I think I might have a dead cell.

 

Battery replaced on Sunday (after it completely died on me while driving), no issues since then

 

Flaky battery would certainly give you those symptoms; hope that's it.

Good luck...