Long-time lurker, first time poster here 
I've had my '98 for about 5 months and driven it a good bit in that time (10k miles since June). Have had no problems with it other than this loss of power issue that's happened a few times:
First time was about 4 months ago. I had just driven on a National Forest road that also had a few creek crossings, but was back on pavement at this point. A car coming the opposite direction was flying up the road almost in the middle, so I had to veer off onto the grassy shoulder to avoid. When it passed, I turned the wheel to get fully back on the road, but the steering wheel tightened up like I had lost power steering. All the lights on the dash came on, and I had no throttle response from the pedal. So I just stopped and parked, took the key out, and popped the hood (yes, right in the middle of this road lol).
Checked underneath - no leaks, nothing looked out the ordinary, so I jumped in and started back up. Engine light was still on, but the other dash lights were off and I had power steering. Essentially no pedal response: I floored it, and the RPMs only got to about 1300. Felt like it had gone into some kind of limp mode. But I just decided to keep moving and was able to creep down to the main road, let a couple cars pass, then get to a gas station just over a mile down the road from there to pull over. Didn't even get up to 40 MPH, so luckily I didn't have anyone come up behind me. I did have a socket set with me, so I popped the hood and disconnected the battery, waited a few minutes while I checked underneath again to see if anything looked weird, then reconnected the battery. Started up just fine, and I had no trouble on the hour and a half trip back home.
Fast forward to last weekend, and I was out on another National Forest fire road. On a rocky descent, between 10-15 MPH, hit brakes, then when I let off, same thing as before with the lights on the dash and the steering and loss of power. So I did the same thing as before, started back again, and all good. Was beginning to think something is getting rattled loose, but no idea what that could be. Also had done multiple trips in between incidents with sandy and rocky terrain with no issues.
Took it real slow the rest of the way down, and no problems until 2-3 hours later. I got some food at a drive through, then pulled forward to the road and stopped to check the bag and get things situated. When I went to pull into the road, I had no throttle once again. This time, no lights on the dash and steering was just fine. Nearly pulling out into traffic with no power freaked me out though. Backed up, pulled into a parking space, and repeated the sequence as before. No problems since then. But it's made me nervous since I don't know exactly what's causing it or when it might happen.
I would assume it's an electronics issue, but I'm no expert there. So just thought I'd detail it all and see if anyone may have had a similar situation before or suggestions on what to try out!
I've had my '98 for about 5 months and driven it a good bit in that time (10k miles since June). Have had no problems with it other than this loss of power issue that's happened a few times:
First time was about 4 months ago. I had just driven on a National Forest road that also had a few creek crossings, but was back on pavement at this point. A car coming the opposite direction was flying up the road almost in the middle, so I had to veer off onto the grassy shoulder to avoid. When it passed, I turned the wheel to get fully back on the road, but the steering wheel tightened up like I had lost power steering. All the lights on the dash came on, and I had no throttle response from the pedal. So I just stopped and parked, took the key out, and popped the hood (yes, right in the middle of this road lol).
Checked underneath - no leaks, nothing looked out the ordinary, so I jumped in and started back up. Engine light was still on, but the other dash lights were off and I had power steering. Essentially no pedal response: I floored it, and the RPMs only got to about 1300. Felt like it had gone into some kind of limp mode. But I just decided to keep moving and was able to creep down to the main road, let a couple cars pass, then get to a gas station just over a mile down the road from there to pull over. Didn't even get up to 40 MPH, so luckily I didn't have anyone come up behind me. I did have a socket set with me, so I popped the hood and disconnected the battery, waited a few minutes while I checked underneath again to see if anything looked weird, then reconnected the battery. Started up just fine, and I had no trouble on the hour and a half trip back home.
Fast forward to last weekend, and I was out on another National Forest fire road. On a rocky descent, between 10-15 MPH, hit brakes, then when I let off, same thing as before with the lights on the dash and the steering and loss of power. So I did the same thing as before, started back again, and all good. Was beginning to think something is getting rattled loose, but no idea what that could be. Also had done multiple trips in between incidents with sandy and rocky terrain with no issues.
Took it real slow the rest of the way down, and no problems until 2-3 hours later. I got some food at a drive through, then pulled forward to the road and stopped to check the bag and get things situated. When I went to pull into the road, I had no throttle once again. This time, no lights on the dash and steering was just fine. Nearly pulling out into traffic with no power freaked me out though. Backed up, pulled into a parking space, and repeated the sequence as before. No problems since then. But it's made me nervous since I don't know exactly what's causing it or when it might happen.
I would assume it's an electronics issue, but I'm no expert there. So just thought I'd detail it all and see if anyone may have had a similar situation before or suggestions on what to try out!
