2G 98 GSX, strange no power issue

[UndeadPancake]

Having a strange problem with my 98 GSX where the car is not getting any power at all until I disconnect and reconnect the battery. The issue doesn’t happen every time but both times the issue happened, I drove the car for a short time, turned the car off and then once I go to start it again the car has no power. I put the key in the ignition and nothing happens, no crank, no clicking, nothing. No lights work, headlights do not work, nothing has power. The only way I found to fix this so far is unhook the positive and negative battery terminals, let it sit for a few minutes, reattach the terminals and the car will start just fine no problem. I thought it might be the battery so I cleaned the terminals and went and had it tested but it checked out all good. I don’t have any experience working with car electrical systems so any advice on what I could check that might be causing this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Dusty Landrum]

Hmmm... the fact that it resets with the battery disconnected would leave me to think it is something with the ECU. When you leave it disconnected it is draining the power from it and "resetting" it. Besides that, I would stick a voltmeter on the main fuse at the box to see if when you get the no power issue, there is power sitting on both sides of the fuse. Don't just check continuity. It can be deceiving.

 

[Techn0Nut1996]

Check your connections near the battery and make sure they are all making solid contact, same goes with any grounds that the car uses.

 

[Dusty Landrum]

Were you able to find what the problem was with the power issue? Just really curious what it is. Still leaning toward it being something that has to "relax" when the power is removed for a while, like a relay or the ECU.

 

[UndeadPancake]

Were you able to find what the problem was with the power issue? Just really curious what it is. Still leaning toward it being something that has to "relax" when the power is removed for a while, like a relay or the ECU.

I haven't been able to drive the car lately so I haven't had the issue happen again yet. I did check the grounds which seemed good and I plan to replace the terminals on my battery because they are a little beat up just in case its a loose connection there or something. The relays seem fine when the car is working, but if it's something up with the ECU I'm not sure where to begin testing that.