So I'm just driving along and my car will die. I can put it in park and it will start right back up no problem. I've checked the connections on the battery and alternator. What could be causing this?

So i'm just driving along and my car will die. I can put it in park and it will start right back up no problem. I've checked the connections on the battery and alternator. What could be causing this?

Driving along and dies... completely shuts down like turning off the key? Do the lights on the dash stay on or does everything completely shut down?

If they lights on the dash go out, everything's dead, but it will restart when the transmission is placed into park, though it doesn't make a much sense, check the ground (-) cable coming from the battery, and make sure it isn't loose or corroded where it is attached to the body and to the motor/transmission.

If the lights on the dash stay on when the motor dies, it's likely not a battery connection problem. Does it sputter or hesitate, like it's running out of gas? Does there seem to be anything in common happening when it does shut down? (hitting a bump, flooring the pedal, turning, etc)

Without having a better idea of what all is happening, a quick guess would be the start/run relay is faulty, but may not be the case.

Tell us more about the van (make, model) and more details about the problem, if you can.