Car is a 2001 trans am while on a long road trip I noticed that my car sputters every once and a while. At first I thought it was loading up but then I noticed that when it does this the temp guage drops and then spikes back to 180. Where should I start?

 

I'd start with pulling the ECT sensor connector, clean & make
sure the contacts are tight. ECT drives fuel and spark nuts if
it's flakey. I've seen it (loose connector) make a truck die at
idle.