Cougar

There should be two sets of plugs. One green and one black. They are both normally not connected unless you are doing some troubleshooting.

I believe the light will turn off by itself if the problem is cleared.

I would check that current draw again because .3 amps or 300 milliamps is too much draw on the battery if it stays that way. I seem to remember someone else saying they had a similar problem but the .3 amp drain changed to a lower safe value after some time. Like the car went into a sleep mode after some time. I look for problems if the current draw is greater than .08 amps or 80 milliamps, which is safe.

Thanks for telling me the location of the fuse panel. Was the relay in the fuse panel? If you see three little boxes in a row inside, on one end of the panel, those are the relays and the one you want is in the middle. The clicking you heard means that there is voltage getting to the relay coil and it is turning on. The relay contacts may be bad though but it appears the coil is good at least. You may be able to swap the relay with one of the others to see if that helps.

Since the speed are working ok then resistors are good. Just make sure there are no faulty connections. There is a blower relay in the dash near the radio area. It may be the first of four relays. You could try tapping it while the problem is occuring or swap it with another one if it fits correctly.

Dneufeld, Here is a copy of a thread by 89Ru. Please check the wiring on your CAS. It may be wrong. His is correct. Glen, Reading dneufelds post has me wondering about my hookup He states "red power / black reference / white position / green ground" My hookup: red power / green reference / white position / black ground I base this on my FSM which says: GB power GY ref sign BW pos sign B ground I suppose '87 and '89 could have different wire colors...just wondering. The CAS was drawing 31 mA at 12V on red --> black Michael Dneufeld, your black and green wires may be reversed.

So... can someone tell me if the interior fuse panel is on the side of the dash, on the driver's side? If not, where is it? My factory supplement manual is good but it is not complete. Curious tech minds need to know!

I don't think you can get down to component level with the sensor but I don't know for sure. I would think you should be able to get the sensor for a lot less than the whole disty but you may find a deal on one.

Michael, I have no doubt that your wiring is correct since your vehicle was running and died while driving if I remember correctly. My service manual for an '88 SPFI version agrees with the same colors you state you have, though it doesn't show what signals are on the lines. They just tie to the ECU. I am real confident that a new CAS will fix your problem after seeing the scope data you so expertly provided. You do bring up a very good point about Dneufeld's problem though. It sounds like the green and black wires are reversed. Thanks for the notice, I did not catch that. Edit: I see you provided the current draw for the CAS. Very nice, but I have no idea what a normal draw is. I would expect maybe something a little higher since your output appears to be damaged. You must be a tech of some sort to be able to provide this kind of data. Not many folks get this deep into the electronics.

Well I got a pretty good rest though it was too short. Both you guys were looking at the thread so I thought I would ask since I posted a revision to my post about the fuse panel. Reason01 must have had a real late night since he is on the east coast.

I agree with All Talk about the ECU. The owners manual talks about the learning procedure I think.

Reason01 and Olnick, I see you guys are on line. Any comments before I hit the sack?

Your welcome for the help Reason01. After looking at my manual again I noticed that I made a mistake. Sorry for the confusion. It doesn't show the rear illumination relay in the fuse panel that is in the engine compartment. It shows it as the middle one in the other fuse panel, which I assume is mounted in the dash somewhere. The manual doesn't really show the panel location except for some connectors on the far left side of the dash. There are 21 regular fuses on one side of the panel and the three relays are are on the other end of the panel. Is your interior fuse panel different? The drawing for the engine fuse panel shows 4 relays in a row for the A/C system and at one end of the panel there are 2 relays for the headlights.

You may be right Roy. Hopefully we can get this solved soon.

It sounds to me that the tranny didn't downshift when it was supposed to and the engine started lugging. Some adjustment may be needed for the downshift. Are you using the proper grade of gasoline?

You may be right, I'm just going by what my factory service manual shows. I have never actually seen one of the relays myself so I can't say for sure. I also assume the fuse panel is in the engine compartment. This is the main panel not the secondary one which is in the cabin I think. I have more working experience on the pre Legacy models than the newer ones.

Very nice reference data 89Ru. It is very fortunate you have a scope and know how to use it. Looking at your scope data it seems to me also that the signals are way too low and should be between 4 and 5 volts peak, though I have not looked at them before this. I am going by what the manual says you should see. Your meter was just basically measuring noise. There may be an amplifier stage in the CAS that is not working.

The relay should look like a small plastic box. It's the middle one of the three in the main power panel which is in the engine compartment I think.

Just a heads up. It is my understanding that the ignition needs to be OFF when changing this connector or the black one, otherwise the ECU can be damaged.

Did you read my post #40? Have you tried swapping the relay out in the main fuse panel with one of the others? If that doesn't work you will need to start checking the connections mentioned in the post with a test light.

I think the BW wires go to different points Roy. My drawing shows one of them tieing to power through fuse #11 and also ties to the ECU pin #19. The other BW wire from the ignitor goes to the condensor which is tied to ground. I assume this is working as a bypass cap on the minus side of the coil like the old points and condensor in a distributor did years ago.

What exactly do you mean when you say the reference signal wanders? When you say reference voltage I assume you are talking about the larger space holes of the wheel, correct? If so, I would expect the voltage on a meter to go up or down (I'm not sure how this is being measured) when the larger holes are in line with the light sensor. It would seem to me that if you are getting pulses as you turn the shaft that the sensor is good. The only thing to make sure is if the voltage pulses are high enough. Have you checked the connections between the CAS and the ECU to make sure that they are ok?

If the tailights turn on when you turn the light switch to the first position and stay on when moved to the second position then I think things are fine with the rear lights. Some cars only turn on the headlights when the DRL are on. The rears do not turn on.

Dneufeld, Please let me know what the test results are from my post #51.

I remember that he did say that but he was using a voltmeter to check it with. I would really like to know what a scope shows. As far as the fourth lead Roy I can only think that may tie to another transistor, but I really don't know.