Cougar

Wish I could give you a hand Nipper but I'm too far away.

For a quick test you could jumper the switch contacts to see if things worked then.

You certainly can do that. I suspect though you are not getting power to the compressor for some reason.

Unfortunately my info doesn't have any pictures to look at for these things. I would send a PM to Legacy 777. If anyone knows, it would be Josh. Skip may know also. To test the compressor you should be able to apply 12 volts to the main leads. There may be third smaller wire that is used for a pulse line to the AC control unit. Don't apply power to it if you do this.

Did you eliminate the connector for the ignition switch as a problem? The contacts in the connector sometimes go bad.

I like it.

Ok, lets start to work here. If you don't have something to test for voltage with then you need to at least purchase a test light probe. This takes the guess work out of trouble shooting. You can get one of these for under $10 dollars at a parts store. The first place you what to check for trouble is the fusible links. Make sure they all have a good connection. The next place you need to check for trouble is the ignition switch connector. The trouble is most likely in these two areas.

A part of the Jedi, he is.

Hats off to OB99W. That fuse location info is great to know about.

If you need some testing advice let us know. You'll get this trouble figured out.

Hopefully you at least have a test light to see where voltage is getting to. Check the fusible links for loose connections. Also make sure that there is no problem with the main connectors near the battery. The connector for the ignition switch is another check point. Some logical electrical troubleshooting should locate the trouble pretty fast.

If tranny fluid is leaking into the intake that may what is causing the plugs to look like that.

Frankly, I don't think the trouble is caused by the coil. It is curious though why the primary resistances are showing the readings you gave. It sounds like you got the pin numbers right according to the manual. Pin 1 is on the right side as you are looking at the pins. If you have a salvage yard close by perhaps they may have a coil you can compare readings with.

Thanks for the clarification OB99W. That is good to know.

If you are talking about the black devices in the circle I think those are thermal circuit breakers. They reset themselves after they cool down. They are normally used in the power window circuits.

I don't think so.

Before condeming the sensor I would check the connections to it and even inside the ECU to make sure that the wiring is good. If it is bad you may be able to just replace the sensor itself.

Does this car have a vacuum modulator for the tranny? If it does perhaps it is leaking. If you are losing tranny fluid mysteriously this could be the trouble.

Like the others said I would suspect the fuel pump as the cause of the trouble. There may be a power problem to the pump so check the fusible links to make sure they are making good connection. They are in the plastic box mounted on the coolant reservior. The fuel pump relay may be doing this also. It may be under the dash to the right side of the steering column. To eliminate power trouble you can monitor the voltage to the pump on the wires under the rear seat on the passenger side. If the voltage is ok to the pump you should also do a fuel pressure check to see if the pump is bad.

The evaporation thermoswitch is behind the right side of the dash, on the intake unit case. The A/C relay is in the A/C relay holder on the left side of the engine compartment.

Hi Nipper, I'm not sure what you mean when you say switches can give you a false reading. If a switch is bad and it supposed to be closed you will see a voltage drop across it. Unless of course something else in the circuit is open when it shouldn't be. Some tests need to be done when the system is live, so taking a voltage check is easy to do. Hope you feel better soon.

Just measure the voltage across the leads. When the contacts are "open" you will see voltage drop across them. When the contacts are "closed" there should be no voltage across them (a short). With a relay you will have more than two wires. The swtiched contacts are usually the two larger leads that have to handle the current load. If you can find another relay that matches the suspected bad one just swap them.

My reference shows a yellow/red wire going to F/B fuse #4. One thing you could do is remove the feed wire to the lighter socket and install another wire that goes to the fuse panel. Then put a inline fuse on the wire and tie the fused end to a hot buss source in the fuse panel. You could also tie a fused jumper lead from the power buss to #4 fuse position. Replace the existing fuse with the jumper lead terminated with a suitable connector, that will match the fuse contact and connect it to the protected side of the fuse position. This will make the other power outlets hot at all times also if you have them.

Bad relays are a pretty common failure item since they carry a good amount of current that can be hard on the contacts. You can also use a test light probe to see where voltage is getting to and where it isn't.

I'm an electronics tech. Using your DVM will tell you what wires are hot or tied to power and which ones go to ground or have a load on them. I would think the electronic components you saw in the switch are used as a regulator circuit for the dimmer. Other lighting controls are usually just make or break switch contacts. Since the dimmer isn't working I would suspect the regulator is shorted. If you can work on the components you may be able to replace the bad ones and fix the dimmer. To find the short I would remove leads that go to ground and reconnect them one at a time to see which one is causing the trouble. If there is more than one lead going to ground.