ongoing 850 electrical problem

[hodges]

I am having an ongoing intermittent electrical problem with my 96 850. Briefly, what I am experiencing is an occasional stall from which the car cannot be restarted for a period of time varying from 10 minutes to several hours. Eventually the car can be started again but, unfortunately, without being able to figure out why it stalled or why it was possible to restart. Some observations surrounding these events are;

after a stall, when I turn the key I get nothing at all,

things which do not require the key to be in the on position continue to work. door locks, interior lights, etc are ok

things which require the key to be in the on position do not work. Blower, radio, windows can no longer be controlled,

dash lights do come on when I turn the key. However, the intensity of those lights fluctuates with the position of the blower switch,

sometomes I get a couple of brief hesitations preceding a stall. During the last incident I tested that blower switch business before the stall and noticed a spike of the tachometer needle when switching between positions, like I'm getting an electrical surge.

This problem is getting worse. It's occuring more frequently and lasting longer. My fear is that some electrical components are slowly being damaged by an inderlying root problem, and that I'll soon face replacing parts which are not causing this. I have already replaced the ignition switch with no effect. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Jot]

The light intensity you mention leads me to think dirty terminals on the battery. Remove the connections and clean with coated abrassive.How old is the battery?