02' PT Cruiser Limited Edition Fire & Transmission Problems.. Help??

[ssccrab]

Lately my 02' PT Cruiser Limited has started having a few problems. Firstly, it pops out of gear while driving down the road. This car is an automatic. I'll be driving down the road and it'll suddenly shift into neutral and go back into gear. Today, going dow the highway at 70mph, it shifted out into neutral but didn't go back into gear. I had to pull over and restart. What could be a possible problem?

Also while driving tonight, the car shut off completely (while driving) for roughly a second, then powered back up and continued to drive normally. All lights and everything went off as if I had turned the ignition off. It has done this one other time before. Shortly after that happened, it shut off completely. I pulled over and noticed some smoke coming out from under the hood. Popped it open and sure enough the battery was on fire. Luckly I was a few blocks from my house and a kind neighbor where I stopped handed me his fire extinguisher. There was no other damage to the engine or body as far as the fire goes, and it was only contained to the location of the battery. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what might of happened?

I appreciate the help!

[CREWZIN]

The battery is probably why the car shut off and as far as why, read this:

Causes of a Car Battery Fire | eHow.com

[mndobondo]

Low mileage high storage what he said is right!!
while replacing the battery and cables you might seal them with touch of battery seal from permatex sa9 prevents water air from getting in to them again for a while..
my penny..