Instrument cluster turns off car

[Jhems]

Hello everyone, my wife's 2004 Ford Explorer has 176K on it. When driving I hear a chime from the message center then the instrument needles go all the way down and start wiggling at the low end and the car turns off. If you listen you can hear like static or some weird sound. Then it starts right back up and will happen again at random. I spoke to a mechanic who said there are two timing chains and the one on the back is not sensing oil pressure or something and he would need to pull the engine access it $3000. I doubt that greatly. I looked at the battery and the connections were tight but covered in acid dust. I cleaned it off and checked fuses under hood. Can anyone help?

 

[Number4]

Has it still occurred after you clean the battery cables? It sounds like bad voltage. Or a bad ground. Make sure the cables are still flexible if not they could have corrosion down inside them.

 

[Jhems]

Has it still occurred after you clean the battery cables? It sounds like bad voltage. Or a bad ground. Make sure the cables are still flexible if not they could have corrosion down inside them.

No. It stopped after I cleaned the cables and the next day I replaced the battery. Has not happened since. One curious thing though. I also have a 71 Riviera and I put the old Ford battery in it and it would not start it at all. Granted the 455 may be harder to turn over but the battery should've been able to start it, it started the Ford after all. So there must have been something going bad in the battery. Easy fix just weird symptoms. Thanks for your response.