Cougar

Check to see if there is any control module under the front passenger seat. Wiring under the hood may be soaked also and needs to dry out.

Basic DC electrical theory is fairly simple to understand and once you understand how it works and get familiar with some troubleshooting proceedures you will most likely come to liking it. When looking into any electrical problem it is always a good idea to first check and make sure the area you are looking at is getting the proper power to it.

Do you know how the water got into the car? Do you have a sunroof? You are going to have to remove the carpet and try to dry things out if you don't want mold to take over. You may want to rent a fan to help speed up the drying process. Check out the wiring under the dash and see if things got wet under there.

If the wire is picking up some sort of noise wraping it around the main wire should reduce it. Wait a minute. After writing that and looking at it another thought came to mind. Instead of the wire picking up noise it may possibly be putting noise out generated by the starter motor and that is being picked up by the security system. That is pretty wild but I'm getting desperate here trying to imagine what the problem is. You have definitely got a problem for the books here. If this is the case then wraping the wire around the main cable should help.

This is very, very strange. Do any alarm lights on the dash turn on when the wire is connected? Do you see any difference in anything except it doesn't start? Anything to indicate the alarm has been tripped? Try wrapping the wire around the main starter wire and see if that makes a difference.

Can you show us a close up picture of how you are connecting to the positive post. Something just isn't right here. There is no way I can see the alarm system being able to detect that wire being connected.

Another happy Soob owner. Isn't life wonderful!

It all comes down to this. If you don't have power getting to fuse 11 (with the ignition ON) you ain't gots nothin .

Well after looking at your post about the relay connections it appears they are the way they should be. It seems that the idea of RF intererence that 89Ru made mention of may be correct. I think it is highly unlikely but then it is the only thing left that I can think of that would cause the trouble. Do you live near a broadcast station? It seems to me that if RFI really is causing the trouble you would have to be near some high power RF source. To see if this is the problem try connecting the relay power wire to the battery and not connected to the relay like you did before and verify again that the car will not start. If the same results occur then try closing the hood and see if the car starts then. I assume you didn't close the hood the last time and if RF is getting into the car systems then closing the hood should help and act as a shield to the RFI. If the car starts then you will really have a strange one for the books.

I'm not sure if the fuse panel is laid out like my drawing shows but it may be. It shows 2 columns of 8 fuses and third column with 4. Number 1 fuse is the top of of the first column of 8 fuses. Fuse 17 is start of the third column. So fuses 1, 9, and 17 are at the top of the column. Fuses 10 and 12 also tied to the power side of fuse 11 so if it doesn't have power getting to it then neither will they.

You could be on to something there OB99W.

This is pretty strange alright. Did you connect the power lead to pin 30 of the relay? Also, how did you run the coil leads of the relay, pins 85 and 86?

If you have a test light probe that will also work to check for voltage.

I got out my service data. You didn't state if you have the 4 or 6 cylinder version but either way, if you have no voltage at the coil check fuse 11. If you have no voltage at fuse 11 then you should check the fusible links. My data shows fuse 11 is fed power from the taillight relay which makes absolutely no sense to me and I can't find it on any drawing. Check your data to see how fuse 11 is supplied power. It may show something different.

You can usually just feel them and tell if they are good or not or bend the middle of them where they burn out at. You can also check the voltage across them while in the circuit. A good one will have no voltage across it since it is basically a short circuit. You need to have voltage going to one end at least of course. Another method is to remove it and measure the resistance across the link. It should be zero ohms.

Have you checked all the fusible links and fuses?

There is also a small hose connection down in that area that can leak if the clamps aren't tight if I remember correctly.

Just off the top of my head I think power is usually provided to the ECU through the main relay. What are the problems you are having? I assume you are not getting spark to the plugs, is that so? If it is you need to check for power getting to the ignition system.

At this stage, you may want to investigate for a problem in the exhaust system.

The throttle position sensor and MAF sensor are other suspects that should be looked at. A partially plugged CAT is possible also and may explain the rumble noise you hear at times.

Lets do the math. Say you get 25 MPG with another car and you drive 10k miles per year. That means you will use about 400 gallons of gas. Your current car will use about 588 gallons giving you about a 188 gallon savings. Lets say gas will be at 2.85/gal.. Rounded off your dollar savings will be about $540 dollars. If the AC has trouble in the old car your savings will be long gone.

If you do this I hope you don't find the little amount you save in gas is more than negated by the higher repair costs needed over time on the older car. This doesn't sound like a good idea to me.

Something isn't right with the full load current you showed. It should be around 80 amps, not 9.2 amps. Check the AC voltage across the battery while the engine is running around 2,000 RPM. If you see more than .1 volt the alternator needs to be replace. I suspect some diodes have gone bad in the alternator.

I would suspect the switch for the light is making connection though it shouldn't be.

That gremlin has bitten others also.