Q: Car stalled and all lights turned on
I was waiting at a signal light after driving for about 15 minutes. When the light turned green, I pressed on the gas pedal but the car shook a little bit then slowly crawled forward, as if it was stalling. I attempted to add more pressure to the gas pedal, but the car no longer moved forward. I looked down at the dash and the check engine light, battery light, and brake lights were all on. I did not have the e-brake engaged, so I did not know why the car was not moving forward. My friend suggested I turn the car off and back on again. When I did so, the car turned on and began to move like normal. I got back home after driving about another 15 miles without further incident. This issue has never happened before, but I have had the check engine light turn on a few times this year. When I got it checked out, I was told it was the catalytic converter. I’m not sure if this matters, but I want to figure out the root cause.
My car has 174000 miles.
My car has an automatic transmission.
Depending on how bad the catalytic converter is, a bad catalytic converter can cause the engine to run bad and even stall out at times. The reason that all the lights came on on your dash is because the engine was no longer running. When you turn the key to the on position without starting the engine you always see most of the lights light up. This is a normal function of the vehicle. As for the engine stalling and dying out, I would recommend having your vehicle inspected by a qualified professional to verify that the catalytic converter is the cause of this issue.
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