ok...I don't know were to start so I'm posting my very first thread. I have an '02 MCS with about 75k miles. Recently I've been experiencing some very weird problems. While sitting in stop and go traffic or idling at a stop light my mcs would sometimes shut down completely OR lights on instrument panel and radio would flicker, almost shut down but would remain running. Each time my instrument panel lights would reset itself to its brightest level and my trip odometer would reset itself to zero.

On several occasions while pulling into my parking spot at work I would lose power steering while the car was still running or would lose all power as the car would shut down while pulling into the parking spot. The car would run fine just as long as the car was moving. Once it's idling on at a stop light, or stop and go traffic, or even through a fast food drive through the car would shut down or almost shut down.

One time while going through a drive through I notice the temperature gauge reach 123 degrees. I promptly shut the car off to avoid it getting any higher. After that incident I decided to park the Mini in my backyard. The next day the Mini wouldn't start and didn't start for the next 2 weeks. I tried jumping it several times to no avail. I did notice while trying to start it I would here a relay click several time while turning the key. I finally gave up on it until one morning I decided to give it another try and it fired up right away. It drove fine for several weeks until the problem with it shutting off or almost shutting off while idling re-emerged.

I've tried reading other threads but couldn't fine one exactly like the problem I'm having. Reading the other threads leads me to believe it's a bad PS pump but I am sort of believing it may be an alternator problem. Could it be both? Anyone else experience a similar problem or can point me in the right direction? Please help!!