Virto

All,

I recently inherited a 1999 Cougar 2.5 with 108k on the clock. She's a great car, but I have some questions that I've been wondering about.

The clock in the instrument cluster, and the odometer (same window) stay on all the time, even when the key is out. There is no power to any accessories during this time. Is the clock SUPPOSED to be on all the time? It strikes me as odd that it would be, although LCDs don't really draw much current, I don't like the idea that something is constantly draining the battery.

I just replaced the battery last week, which is only the car's 3rd. The last one was in place for just shy of seven years, and although it was on my list of things to do, when it decided to leave me stuck in a parking lot, I figured the time was as good as any.

One more thing, I did notice that when you accelerate hard (around 5k-ish) and the car shifts up, the battery light will flicker for just a second on occassion. Anyone else run across this? With the clock on, the battery dying and the light flickering here and there, even though I rarely get it over 3500, I'm a little concerned with the electrics.

Bert

There's a microprocessor in the instrument cluster and something is feeding current when it shouldn't. You might have a poor solder connection on the board. As for the alternator light, is the drivebelt in good shape and the tensioner holding good?

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Bert

Virto

I'll have to take a good look at it, but it's much harder than it was in my F150, lol. How much can they cram into the smallest of spaces and all...

Hm, the instrument cluster sounds like an issue. Wonder where the best place to start is. I'll pull out the multimeter this weekend and see just what kind of drain there is while parked, and just how much juice the alternator is putting out.