Hello, this is my first post... been lurking a while. I have a 2007 RL, 203,000 miles. This issue has occurred a few times this week, I’m planning to investigate it this weekend.
The issue occurs at seemingly random times, but has only happened on the interstate after driving around 60-200 miles.
First, the radio will start skipping, almost like a scratched CD. The radio display stays on, and there’s no flickering of the display corresponding to the skipping of the radio. (It doesn’t matter if it is set to AM, FM, Aux, etc.)
After around a minute or two of the radio issue, the engine will suddenly jolt to a stop for a split second. All the accessories like the steering, brakes, gauge cluster turn off for a split second and come back on. There is no loss of power after this occurs, the only thing that feels any different than before the power cut off is the steering.
The steering will feel a little heavy as if the power steering is gone. The gauge cluster will show a “check power steering” light. If I turn the wheel sharp to one direction, the light will go off, and the steering returns to normal.
There aren’t any typical “bad steering pump” noises, like whining when cold, and it doesn’t make any strange noises when I turn the wheels.
Any advice?