Cougar

Is the exhaust flowing out like it should be or does it seem like it is restricted? Others have had this same kind of trouble I think and found the MAF sensor to be the cause of it. Cleaning it may help solve the trouble. A dirty throttle position sensor may possibly cause this trouble also.

The problem may be with the alternator, the battery, the wiring to those areas, or a combination of them all. A good charged battery should show about 12.6 volts across it with no load on it. With the alternator running and a good load on the system you should see between 13.25 and 14.8 volts across the battery. From what you stated the battery appears to be severely dicharged. See what the battery voltage is while trying to start the engine or turn on the headlights. Check to see if the battery warning light is on if you can get the engine running. Hopefully you have a batttery charger on hand to use. With a good load on the system check the voltage difference between the main alternator output lead and the positive battery post. You should have less than .1 volt of difference if the connection is ok. You can also check the main ground of the battery that way also.

Is the check engine light still on? If so, do you know how to read the codes? We need to find out what they are.

The sense wire is for the regulator circuit inside the alternator. The regulator uses this wire to monitor the battery voltage and to set the output of the alternator to keep up with the load demand on the electrical system. The current draw you had was excessive and something was bad inside the regulator circuit.

You stated you replaced a module. Are you talking about the transistorized module for the ignition? If you haven't replaced that then I would say that is what you need to do next.

Whenever a code is generated it needs to be looked into and fixed but you may not have to fix the trouble right away. If you leave things as they are then another code could come in and you wouldn't know about it. The code means: Evaporative Emission System Vent Control Circuit Open. That states there is a problem in the circuit to the vent control; which is a solenoid. So check for a loose wire connection to the solenoid connected to the charcoal canister.

Whenever a code states there is a 'circuit' problem with a sensor, the wiring to that sensor needs to be checked first. There may be an open connection in one of the wires to the sensor, a short to ground or across the leads, possibly a highly resistive connection to the sensor, or some other wiring problem. The sensor itself is most likely ok and replacing it before the wiring is checked may be a needless expense. I my opinion the extra money would be better spent to help purchase a factory service manual.

Since you stated the circuit is bad then you need to check the connections to the sensor for a problem. It is pretty common for the connections at the sensor to get dirty.

Like OB99W says, fuse 12 along with most of the other fuses in the fuse panel supplies power to a number of other things besides one specific area like the brake circuit. Also, some circuits have more than one fused circuit suppling power to it.

To test it you should be able to check it with a DVM using the diode test function. I think it is a NPN transistor. Skip may know the ID number for it. If you just purchased a replacement transistor it wouldn't cost you much.

I have to wonder about what the real cause of this problem is. I don't see how a problem with the radio will cause trouble with the HVAC system though I have not studied the newer systems much after the '04 models. If you would like to pursue this trouble I would be happy to look at the bad module and see if I can find out what the problem is with it, if you replace it. I would think that SOA would do a modification if there was a cronic design problem with the module.

One easy thing you can do is to check fuses 7 and 8 for power. Verify that power is getting to that point when the light switch is ON by using a test light probe to test with. If you have power there then check the center lead at the lights and see if power there also. If it is, you should be able to ground either of side leads to the lamp and turn on the headlight filament for that side of the light. This would then mean something is wrong with the switched ground to the lights.

There is a pretty good chance that the headlights are just burned out like Edrach stated. If they are really ok and the high beams don't work either then there may be a wiring problem from the light switch. You can get CD and factory manuals from Ebay at a good price. I think there is a set of 4 manuals that completely covers the car. The fourth manual covers the wiring and is most likely the most important to have. Just a heads-up about the factory drawing that Skip so nicely provided. There is a mistake in the way the wiring to the headlights is drawn. The wire coming from the fuses should be to the center wire connection of the bulbs and not on the end.

The code has nothing to do with the throttle sensor. You need to clean and check the connections to the CTS sensor. The location of the sensor was given in an earlier post, number 3.

You stated you have good power to the coil. Did you check to see if there is voltage getting to the minus lead of the coil? You should have voltage there also. If you do, then I would suspect the ignition amplifier is causing this trouble. It is the transistor mentioned earlier. It may be what caused the shorting problem you had.

The factory info I have for the McIntosh system is pretty sketchy but it does identify the speaker output connections along with the power leads going to the seperate amplifier for the system. There are four other pin connections in the connector but the drawing doesn't show what those pins do. I can only think that these pins are for the input L/R connections to the input of the amp coming from the head unit. They should be shielded leads. I suspect pins 4 an 12 are for the right side input and 5 an 13 are for the left side input if the wiring follows the same way the speakers are connected to the amp. To see if my thinking is correct about this first see if the wires are shielded. If they are, then I think I'm on the right track. The next thing you could do is monitor those leads to check for audio on them. Using an analog voltmeter should work. You could also use a set of computer speakers that have a built-in amp. You would need to make a set of test leads to connect to the speaker input connection. Once the leads are identified you would have to then make up a 'Y' cable with a switched common output in order to connect the external device and the input from the head unit. Using some RCA connectors to do that would make things nice. If you looking for an AUX Input inside the head unit, that would require some major surgery and would be harder to do than this other method of just using the external amp input.

The Nokians aren't cheap but they are a very good tire.

The vehicle looks pretty good from the top side. I would be curious to see the underside and engine compartment also. I also wonder why the hood latch isn't there. Perhaps the release dosen't work.

Welcome to the forum here. The trouble code you have is a Engine Coolant Temperature Circuit code. This means the coolant sensor for the ECU has a problem in the circuit between the ECU and the sensor. It is pretty common for the connections at the sensor itself to get gummed up so I recommend you check that first in the hunt for the trouble. In case you aren't aware of it, that sensor is not the same as the one for the dash gauge. The CTS sensor you want to check has two leads going to it so look for that. I think it is located on near the top-front of the engine on the passenger side but I'm not sure of that.

Was the replacement motor running before you put it in? Did you put new timing belts on the engine? If so, you may have installed them wrong.

The problem may be with a connector that is possibly under the dash and supplies connections to various areas. Some of the things you mentioned. Fuse # 8 in the main panel under the hood supplies power to a lot of things and also those areas you mentioned. It is a 20 amp fuse. The circuit also runs through the fuse panel in the dash just as a wire connection and then fans out to various places. The wire color is blu/red.

Over tightening the battery cable connections is not a good thing to do since it stretches the connector out. This is a common mistake made. You just want them snug enough so they aren't loose.

Good find on the trailer harness. I forgot about that area as a possible trouble source. Others have had similar problems due to a problem with the harness and moisture mainly.

If you have a rear defroster for the window it may be for that.

Ok, that is clear about the flasher unit. It is great you try to keep the battery connections clean since that is a real major problem with a lot of troubles. Get the voltage checked. Places like Autozone should have a meter to check it.