Originally Posted by
leftover
Did you by chance check the alternator belt, many times people bring in a vehicle that they hear a thump as you described and then the lights and such, many times it is just the belt flipped off and thumped on it's way out. Just something I have witnessed/fixed as a mechanic a few times.
Thank you for this info, too - it would be awesome if this thread ends up providing the answer to "dude, what happened to my car?"
I'll make sure they know the order of events; maybe they'll recognize the symptoms in the same way others here have.
DD