It may have happened to you twice, but I bet you Thomo has seen it a billion times, and I am willing to bet that he is spot on with his verdict. Look into it Dave

Thomo has got a point (my dads vn did it all the time until he changed the crank abgle sensor) but unless the crank angle sensor was shorting out you still havnt fixed your problem. The crank angle sensor will shut the car off but all lights and so on will and do work, here is a hint for you go and start up a vn, vp or wateva u want and pull on the wire connected to the crank angle sensor so that it comes away from the contact point and tell me how many lights go out.

Hey mate just checkin up how the car is going, did you end up gettin it sorted?

A few of the newer EFI cars need the alt to be putting out charge as they can not get enough constant current draw from that battery and as a built in safety system the car shuts down when the alt stops charging.( or so I have been told) I know this to be the case with EFI diesels such as the 3ltr Nissan Patrol and the VW diesel but i can not give an example of this is a petrol EFI car

 

My '84 318i died after a few minutes when my belt snapped and the alternator stopped charging the battery.

My '84 318i died after a few minutes when my belt snapped and the alternator stopped charging the battery.

 

Yep, as the car has had to take its power from the battery.