Cougar

Check the wires of the old sensor using a ohmmeter and see if one of the leads is tied to ground.

The antenna element itself needs to be isolated from ground. It picks up the signal. The base of the antenna is grounded and the car chassis becomes part of the antenna design. The shield of the coax ties to the antenna base which is grounded. The center conductor of the coax is tied to the antenna element which is isolated from ground. The center conductor of the coax may have a bad solder or crimp connection to the center connector.

Nice job Dr.K. You saved another car from going to the crusher.

The only thing I can suggest is that the fuse contacts may not be replaceable. If one of the fuses is having a connection problem you may be able to make a better connection to it by soldering the wire to the contact. If the connection is heat damaged you may need to install a seperate fuse holder for the circuit.

I finally got back to my reference manual (a FSM for a '88). It shows the following info. The power for the headlights is supplied through the red fusible link. The link is tied to the relays and the relays feed fuses 7 and 8. Fuse 8 goes to the right side headlight on a red wire. If the voltage is good at the fuse and the fuse contacts, while the lights are on, but is low at the headlight then the red power wire has a connection problem somewhere. For future reference and to all interested, it is good to know that checking the voltage at the fuses with the lights on, will show if the relays are making good contact or not.

Jerry, In a previous post I thought you had said that you measured the voltage on the center lead of the bad light and stated it was low. If that is correct then there is a problem with the supply voltage to the light and not the ground. You can also prove that by placing the meter probe on the ground side of the light and make sure there is no voltage to ground there. If the ground is bad then you will see a voltage drop across the bad connection. I will be able to get to my reference material tomorrow and help you more on this if you need it.

glad to hear that you got it going. Thanks for the feedback on the progress.

The five short flashes is normal and I think it states what kind of tranny is installed if I remember correctly. I also seem to remember something about that code related to the California emissions specs if the car was sold there. Since it appears there are no fault codes that is good. I still recommend you try the starter fluid trick to see if just adding fuel will keep it running. Another thing to look for is the ground to the fuel pump. There may be voltage getting to the pump but there may be no ground to it. Some models switch the ground to the pump through the ECU. Since you are not hearing the pump turn on with the test connectors tied together I think you have a problem there. Here is a test you can try to make sure the pump is getting connection as it should be. Try cranking the engine briefly and then turn the key to OFF. Then turn the key to the ON or RUN position. Do you hear the pump run briefly then? If so, the pump circuit is ok at least but it doesn't explain why the test connection doesn't appear to be working.

The relay may be under the front passenger seat or the right side kick panel.

Another thing to check is the ECU for codes. It sounds to me that the ECU is shutting down the fuel pump. If it is then you should see a code set. You could try spraying a small amount of starter fluid into the intake when it starts to die and see if that helps keep it going. If it tries to keep running then it seems the pump is being shut down.

You could try checking the resistance of the pump motor coil to see if it is open. Also be sure all fuses are good. Especially #5 and #12.

Jerry, Check the voltage on both sides of the relay to see if there is any voltage drop across it or measure across the main leads. I think you may be on the wrong relay. Like Gloyale mentioned, I think there are 4 relays in line with each other and the ones on each end are for each of the lights. I thought they were located near the center of the dash area. I don't access to my data right now but will be back Wednesday if you still need help locating them. Glen

Nipper, The voltage loss will be in the smaller gauge wires going to the voltmeter due to IR losses. It really isn't a problem, as you know. You just make a mental note of the loss correction to the meter reading.

Thanks for the info, I wasn't aware of that. It sounds like the leads going to the ECU may control which direction the device moves by placing a ground on either end. Just a guess.

If I remember correctly the dimmer control is tied to the hot side of the circuit. I don't have my info right now to check that. The new gauge lights may be drawing less current than the dash lights. Does the dimmer control still work with the new gauge lights? If not, it would seem you are not correct wire for the dash lights. If the dimmer does work then remove the bulbs from the new gauges or disconnect them if you can, and see if the dash lights work ok then. If they do then you may need to change the bulbs to match the dash lights. One thing to note is the dimmer control can handle only so much power. Adding more lights will increase the load on it and possibly damage the control if too much current is drawn. If you are only adding a couple of lights it will probably will be ok.

One last thing to check is the ground lead for the unit. Check the voltage across it and a known good ground. If there is no voltage drop then the ground connection is ok and it would appear the the trouble is internally in the ECU.

To check the pin connections you can use a set of clip leads from your meter and you can clip them to some pins jammed into the backside of the connector. The IAC runs with 12 volts I think so it should always have that voltage when it is on. It is just a simple solenoid and is either open or closed. The intermittent code trouble may be caused by something internally in the ECU. Instead of looking at the voltage to the valve it may be better to monitor the current through the solenoid to see if that changes when the code appears. One other thing that could be going on is the ground lead for the solenoid may have a problem. The voltage will be good to the unit but current through it may go low due to a bad connection. By placing your voltmeter across the ground wire and a known good ground you will see if there is any voltage drop across the ground lead when trouble occurs.

The thermostat may need to be changed out. It may be sticking.

I doubt it is shorting out but it may be opening up.

For the starting trouble I recommend you clean the battery contacts. If that doesn't fix things then you either have battery trouble, the solenoid contacts are bad, or the starter is going bad. The hesitation may be due to the filter so replace that first. Then suspect the fuel pump if the filter doesn't fix things.

I agree. The 33 ohms may be too low and the system will show a fault for that also. Try removing one of the resistors so the resistance will be 50 ohms and maybe that will solve this trouble.

Are there any wire connections on the tranny that a connector would tie to? If not, and the new shifter doesn't have a switch on it then you may need to install your own switch to the shifter.

Before you start running new wires I recommend you check the following areas. First, clean the battery connections, even if they "look ok". Second, check the fusible links for a bad connection. Make sure they are making good contact. The next place to check is the connector in the steering column for the ignition switch. Look for a bad terminal connection in the connector. You may see signs of a burned contact. If so, repair the connection terminals. You may have to bypass the connector if the connector is really bad. I think your problem will be in one of those areas.

I agree. Checking the fuses would be best. If I remember correctly the fuse numbers are 8 and 9 but I can't say that for sure without looking at my manual.

When you say the voltage is good to the light then I assume you measured it using a meter. Assuming the socket is ok and it isn't making a bad connection to the bulb contacts then the problem must be with the ground lead. The ground is switched through the light switch I believe. I'm not sure how the two lights tie the common ground together.