Cougar

The info I have shows the fan is turned on by the AC system using a relay that has the coil tied to a pressure switch that is tied to power, rather than switching a ground connection to the fan motor, like the radiator switch does.

You're most welcome for the help and it is nice to hear the USMB board helped you out. The loose fusible link connection problem is pretty common and has happened to me also. By cleaning the connections up and perhaps adding a thin piece of metal in between the connection points, so there is more solid contact, should keep the trouble from occurring again.

If the alternator isn't turning fast enough to keep the charge on the battery up the warning lights will do what you describe. Cleaning the battery to chassis ground connection and engine grounding may help some. The problem with the dash lights could be due to a dirty connector pin. Seperating and reconnecting the connectors might solve that issue. Check to see if the red wire on the light switch has power getting to it when the trouble happens. The switch may have a problem.

My '88 wiring manual doesn't show a lot of detail for the AC system for some unknown reason. The slip amplifier which turns on the compressor relay has a input from the minus side of the coil, the AC cut relay (which supplies a path to power for cars with AT transmissions), and a switched ground path through a thermostat contact switch. I don't have any info showing the wire colors.

The trouble is most likely with the timing belts. Doing a compression check should tell you if that is the case or not.

If the dimmer control is set to the maximum setting then you need to see if the control is getting any voltage. I assume you have already checked for any bad fuses in the dash fuse panel.

Glad you got it done Ed. Thanks for the notice.

You should have near battery voltage on both of the wires when things are working normally, just like you saw.

You're welcome for the help Wilcox. If you run into something else you need help with we'll be around.

If you mess up the sequence I think starting and turning off the engine will reset things. I'm not sure if you have to remove the key but that may have to be done also. Perhaps the brake has to be used to make this work. I will try to check my manual and see what it says about it.

Good job. You're not the first one to have that trouble.

You say you have power at the relays but did you make sure that the power is being switched by the relays? If power is getting past the relays it then goes on to the fuses in dash panel and then to the lights. The fuses (7 and 8 in my manual) are a real convienent test point. Fuses can be good but if they don't have power getting to them the results are about the same as having a bad fuse.

If you haven't yet checked to see if the timing belt is ok you should do that before doing anything else. If they are ok I suggest you get a meter so you make sure that power is getting to the ignition system. You should also get some sort of service manual if you don't have one already. The factory manuals are best and can be purchased on Ebay.

I had problems programming the remotes for my car also Ed. I think the problem I had was either with the timing of the 10 ignition cycles or starting the sequence. I think I finally got the programming to work by first starting the car and shutting it off. Hoping that would reset things. Then I followed the procedures you have. I don't remember using the brake but it has been some time since I did it. Moving the key back and forth in one second intervals might help.

Having a stress break where the wires flex is a common problem and the wires can indeed break inside the insulation so you can't see the trouble. I still have to wonder why you didn't have power to the switch. There was faulty ground wire connection to the rear door that caused the other issue. Thanks for the update and glad you got it working.

I missed your last couple of posts. It sounds like you are hot on the trail now. Since you now state power is getting to the inhibit switch I have to wonder if you moved something while working on things and made a change to a connection point. The next connectors my info shows is R37 and R39 on the right rear side of the car.

The closest factory manual information I have is for a '95 Legacy. It shows things a little differently. The back-up light wiring is on page 43. The connector nearest the inhibit switch is B12 and it appears to be in the engine area near the transmission. The manual page number is 123. The other connector, B99, is in the kick panel. That info is on page 127.

Since you say that all the fusible links are ok and power isn't getting to the lights this means the relays need to be checked next as they are the next thing in the path after the fusible link. If power is getting to the relays then you need to see if the relay coils are getting power that is supplied by the ignition switch to turn the relays on. The relay coils should be tied to a grounded connection on the return side. You might also check the connector going to the ignition switch wiring as that sometimes has a connection problem.

I'm still with you. We need to solve this problem before The Cat can head back to the lair. Since you are only getting 10 volts on the supply lead, and that I assume that is even without the load of the lights being connected to it, it means there is a real bad connection to the power source in the line somewhere. Pretty much all the supply voltage is being dropped across the bad connection and the high series resistance that shouldn't be there. I would first suspect the connector inside the kick panel as the location of the trouble.

It would be strange to have both headlight relays go bad at the same time. This leads me to think the trouble is before the relays. The dash lighting power passes through the left side relay so that explains why that doesn't work also. You say the fuses are ok but did you confirm that all the fusible links are ok like someone else already suggested? Sometimes the connections get loose and can cause a problem like this. The power from the link passes through the ignition switch and on to the relay coils to turn them on. The power then ties to fuses 7 and 8 in the dash panel. Check for power there. You need a test light probe at least, to check things with.

Since the reverse lights turn off with the brake lights turning on then the most likely suspect is a poor ground connection to the trunk lid. The brake lights require more current than the reverse lights do so with a resistive ground the voltage drop across the bad ground will be higher, making less voltage available to the reverse lights. To prove it you can run a ground jumper from a good ground point on the car to a good spot on the trunk lid. If the lights then work ok clean the main ground connection to the trunk lid. Looking at some info for a later vehicle I see a connector (T7) that ties to the switch on pins 1 and 2. The other end of that connector ties to another connector that is marked T3. The wires from the switch tie to pins 9 and 10 of connector T3. So that clears up some of the confusion. The trouble may be with the T3 end of the connector which should be in the passenger kick panel.

Sure, you can run new wiring. Are you sure you are on the correct switch contact pins for the circuit. Do they show a closure when the shifter is in the reverse position? Do the wire colors I gave you match your wiring colors?

The switch may have been added to solve a bad ignition relay problem.

The info I have for an earlier model shows power comes from fuse 1 and passes through the inhibitor switch pins 9 and 10. The wire colors are blk/yel and blk/red-yel. There are two connections after the switch going to the lights. B99 is a 24 pin connector and in the right side kick panel. The rear light wire is on pin 10. The other connector is on the trunk lid. You need to see why no power is getting to the switch on pin 9. Once that is fixed power should switch to pin 10 and on to the lights. If they still don't come on then perhaps on of the connectors has a pin connection problem or there is a broken wire where the trunk lid pivots.

Having the heater stop working and over heating are some of the classic problems with a bad head gasket. If you want to prove it you could do a block check. It will most likely confirm what you already have seen.