Cougar

You may have corrosion inside the bulb socket.

The fuel pump relay should be checked.

Place a test light probe on the negative side of the coil and see if the light will pulse on and off when you crank the engine over. If you don't see a pulsing light then you may have a bad CAS sensor inside the disty. The voltage on the minus side that you stated sounds too low. There is also an ignition amplifier that may be causing the troiuble.

There should be a smaller lead tied to the battery that goes to the main power panel under the hood. Check that lead for a bad connection. It may be corrodid internally. If you use the tapping screwdriver method I mentioned earlier you will find the trouble. It may also be a good idea to clean the battery ground connections to the chassis.

Good deal. Thanks for the feedback.

Try spraying some starter fluid into the intake and see if that makes the engine ok for a bit. If that works then try changing the fuel filter. If that doesn't help then you may need to change the pump out.

I agree with the loose connection thought. One of my favorite tricks is to use a screwdriver handle to tap on suspected areas. That usually shows up the trouble. It may be with the ignition switch or a connection under the dash. Check the main fuse panel are under the hood first and then move to the dash are if you don't find the trouble there.

It looks like the power to the cluster comes from fuse 11 and the wire color at the dash is blk/wht.

The grounding for the pump is tied through the ECU for safety. If the ECU dosesn't see ignition pulses it will shut the pump down. You don't want to have fuel coming out if an accident happens and could take place if you bypass the safety design. The ECU problem you are having is fairly common. I have repaired a couple of ECUs with this same trouble. Both of the units had a bad driver transistor for the main output transistor switch that provides the ground switching. Here is a link to a thread that discusses the issue and you may find interesting: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=76466&highlight=transistor

If you want to continue checking things out to try and find a problem elsewhere then go ahead, it's your time. The problems you are having are due to a defective alternator. The warning lights are in the alternator exciter circuit. This is so when the key is turned to on, they are tested. The circuit also supplies current to the field windings so when the alternator field builds up it puts out a voltage on that lead and that counters the input voltage and that turns out the lights when the engine turns the alternator fast enough. If there is a problem with the alternator then that voltage drops down and it turns on the warning light.

I now saw your other post asking about the location of the EGR sensor. I would guess it is near the EGR valve but I'm not sure. My '88 manual shows the wire colors to it are black and the other one is white/red. Perhaps that may help you. Your statements about the other device that has vacuum hoses running to it sounds like the EGR solenoid. That isn't what you are looking for and be very careful moving the hoses tied to it. That is a very expensive part new, and breaks very easily.

You didn't state the year of your vehicle and if is injected or not but for most models code 55 refers to the EGR temperature sensor or the circuit to it. I assume you are looking at the correct sensor so you now need to check the circuit to the sensor. Make sure the wiring between the ECU and the sensor is ok. The code can be generated by either a bad sensor or faulty wiring to it. Most temperature sensors work by changing the resistance of the sensor as the temperture of the sensor changes.

The alternators in these cars are a little on the weak side. They do tend to have the problems you describe as far as the high voltage and dim warning lights. While the high voltage is a sign of a bad regulator inside the alternator I believe the dim warning lights are due to bad diodes in it. I recommend you replace the unit with a remanufactured one. Remember to disconnect the negative battery lead before you work on the alternator since the main lead is HOT to the battery. The power lock problem may be due to dirty switch contacts or broken wiring in the door jamb.

Yes, they do.

I suspect the noise you are hearing is coming from a bad bearing in the belt tensioner. See if the pulley movement is sloppy or noisy. I had a bad one at one time and just found a replacement bearing at a place that sells bearings. The dealer will sell you the whole part.

Moving the key from OFF to RUN should turn the pump on for a couple seconds if things are ok. The relay is under the dash to the right of the steering column I think and it may be bad. Another area of possible trouble is the fusible links. Check them for a loose connection. They are in a plastic box mounted on the coolant reservoir.

To verify that the socket pin connection is the trouble you could use a test light probe and touch the tip to the suspected pin while someone is pressing on the brake pedal. If you do that I suggest you tape over most of the probe tip so you can't short it to ground while testing inside the socket. Replacing the socket will most likely take care of the trouble. Thanks for the picture of the car that Sara did. That is very impressive. She has a lot of very good talent to be able do that.

It would be nice to know what kind of noise you are picking up. Alternator noise makes a kind of whining noise and ignition noise is a pulsing type noise. A lot of times this problem can be solved by cleaning the ground connection of the antenna to the chassis of the car. Bad grounding is the first thing that should be looked at for this kind of thing in my book. Without a good ground connection the antenna lead shielding can't do its' job.

I think you have nailed the answer. It does sound like the taillight relay is the problem. I think it is in the dash fuse panel. Welcome to the forum.

The CTS sensor is bad if you don't get a resistance reading across the pins. It means it is open. I think you may need to get OEM parts for those things though they may be available from a parts store outlet.

A common trouble with cruise control systems is the disconnect switches on the brake and clutch pedals aren't adjusted correctly. The system thinks the pedal is depressed and the switch is closed. For the horn problem see if tieing power directly to the horn will make it work. It may be bad. If that is ok then look for the relay under the dash.

Whenever you have a code that mentions the circuit as part of the possible trouble it is a good thing to make sure the wiring to the sensor in question is good between the ECU and that sensor. In the case of your CTS sensor it sounds like it is open internally. You should see a reading using your ohmmeter using the 2k or no more than the 20k scale of the meter, as Gloyle stated. If you don't get some sort of reading directly touching the sensor contacts then the sensor is open. The ECU will show that as a circuit problem code. The other sensor code may be due to a bad connection at the sensor. Check the voltages on the sensor leads to see what that shows. When you get more familiar with using your meter you will wonder how you got along without it.

You're welcome.

Using a test light probe or voltmeter verify that fuse 16 has power getting to it. It supplies power to both units. Power gets to the fuse through the ignition switch.

The regulator is internal to the alternator. Welcome to the forum here.