Cougar

It would be interesting to see if this one would work. I think it would myself. If I still had my old car I would experiment with it to see if it would work. It would help a number of folks with this problem if it did work.

I have seen some data in the past that seemed to indicate the transistor may be a Darlington version.

From your statement about spinning the disty makes things happen it sounds to me that the CAS is working ok. By replacing the ignition amplifier I suspect you will be back on the road again.

Glad to hear you got the lights working correctly. You stated that you swapped the tail light relay with another one and I assume you did this without testing the original relay as I suggested in my earlier post to see if it was the cause of the no tail light problem. You may now have moved a bad relay into another position so if you find that something else now doesn't work it may be due to that. As far as the battery drain goes you should have the electrical system tested. Normal drain current is around 25 milliamps. If there is over a 60 milliamp drain I would try to find out the source of the excessive drain current. Also have the charging system load tested to make sure the alternator is doing its' job and the battery is in good shape. Doing those things will confirm there isn't any more gremlins in the charging system.

In answer to your question, the marker lights are the running lights. Since you have checked the fuses then I suspect turning on the parking light switch mounted on top of the steering column will make the running lights work. The tail light relay is most likely bad. You also have another problem from what you stated later. Like Nipper mentioned, it appears that there is either a bad brake light bulb filament causing the front running lights to turn on when the brake pedal is pressed or you have the wrong bulb installed in the rear lights. Some folks have placed a single filament bulb where a dual filament bulb should be. Try removing the brake light bulbs and then see if the trouble with the front lights occurs. If the trouble clears, you have a rear bulb problem. Either one of the brake light filaments is crossed inside the bulb or the wrong bulb type is installed in the socket and should be a dual filament.**** The fact that you stated that the replacement bulb you put in didn't fit well signals me that you have the wrong bulb type installed in the socket***.

The problem may be due to a bad tail light relay, located in the dash fuse panel. Check to see if the marker lights will work when you turn on the switch that is mounted on top of the steering column. That switch bypasses the relay. If the lights work that way then the chances are the relay is the problem. For your reference, fuse #5 in the dash fuse panel and fuse #23 in the main panel under the hood are in the circuit.

It appears you are not getting any ignition pulses. You can verify this by using a test light probe. Place the tip of the probe on the 'minus' side of the coil and clip the lead of the probe to a good ground point. Then try cranking the engine to see if the probe light pulses. I suspect you will just see a steady glowing light. This would mean the CAS in the disty is not working or the ignition amplifier is bad.

If the code you got is P0076 it means- Intake Valve Control Circuit Low (Bank 1). This has nothing to do with the oil light. I assume the code is for the MAF sensor. Check for a bad connection to it. EDIT: Sorry, ignore this. I gave a code for the engine, not the transmission which is the trouble.

Check to see if you are getting spark to the plugs when this trouble happens. There may be a problem with power getting to the ignition system or the injector.

Try disconnecting the lead to the pressure sensor and see if the light goes out then. The sensor may be faulty.

You just need to make sure the nuts for the starter are tight. No need to fuss over the torque specs. Be sure to disconnect the negative lead on the battery before you mess with the starter.

A short to ground on the horn wire will cause this trouble alright. The problem may be with the switch, the wire in the column, or there may be a problem on the wire before it goes into the steering column. If you can disconnect the wire before it goes into the column you will find out if the trouble is before that point or after it. Tapping on suspected trouble spots with a screwdriver handle may help locate the trouble.

If the ECU still works that would be pretty amazing I think. Don't use brake cleaner to clean it with. Contact cleaner is ok. If you haven't opened the box yet I suggest you do that and make sure there isn't any corrosion on the board or water left inside it.

I read Nipper's comment about the senders being wired in series with each other. I was thinking they were in parallel. Interesting. Thanks Nipper. I also noticed a comment about the Techron possibly clearing the problem with the low fuel warning light. I don't think that is going to happen. The thermistor may be mounted a little too high on the fuel sender mechanism and is turning the light on early but cleaning the sensor body isn't going to solve that trouble in my opinion. Hopefully it will clear any gauge level indication problems though.

This is how I believe the circuit works. I haven't tested this myself. The only way I could see the circuit working is using the fuel as a coolant. When the fuel level goes below the sensor, the current running through the sensor causes it to heat up a little, and that lowers the resistance of the thermistor even more. With the series resistance to the light lowered, enough current can now flow to turn on the light.

The R/Y wire going to the starter solenoid should tie to the inhibitor switch, not the ECU. I can't explain why the resistance changed when you disconnected the wire to the ECU but that should not be the same wire that ties to the solenoid. Check the resistance between those two wire ends. If they are the same wire the resistance will be real low. Power from the ignition switch should go to the inhibitor switch and then to the solenoid. Perhaps there is a problem with the inhibitor switch causing the trouble.

There are two fuel level sensors in the tank I believe. They work together to provide a reading on the gauge. One of them may have some bad contacts that is causing the trouble. Some folks have cleared this problem by using some Techron in the tank to clean the contacts.

The car 'looks ok' but if you are really seriously looking at it then have it checked out. People that buy that kind of car tend to push them to the limits.

You stated that it makes a strange sound when the trouble occurs. I wonder if something is going on with the intake air system when this happens.

You should be able to find a very nice replacement car for around 12k dollars. You may even want to keep about 1k back for a repair fund when repairs are needed. Hopefully you will find another Soob you want to keep for a long time. Have a shop check things out before you sign for the next car.

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that the O2 sensors were causing a starting problem, just that there may be a wiring problem causing the trouble with them.

The ignition problem may be due to a bad ECU but there are other things that could cause the trouble. Did you check the voltage to the bad coil and compare it to the good one? There may be a wiring problem to the non working section. Another thing that can happen is a reluctor lobe on the crank sprocket can break off and then the ignition signal is changed. You may be able to check for a problem with the ECU outputs to the coils by checking the the resistances of the working section and comparing them to the non working section. Compare the resistances of each lead to ground and across the outputs. There may be a wiring problem to the O2 sensors also.

There is a relay under the dash that could very well be trouble. By turning on the blower and trying to get it to work by tapping on the relays you might be able to locate it.

Most likely a broken timing belt caused the trouble. It looks like this is an interference engine so bent valves and perhaps other damage occured. If your friend wants to fix this it may be best to replace the entire head with a new one. Check the compression on the other side to see if something is needed to be done on that side also.

I think the Forester would be a great car to have. I just would try to get a '03 or newer model since they made better improvements to them. I hope your job continues on. I can understand how you would not want to take on extra debt when faced with uncertainty about your employment.