Bruzilla

My daughter's been having some charging issues with her 2002 Cougar/2.5L. Her alternator failed last year, and she had it replaced. All has been fine until a few weeks ago. She was driving when the Battery and Airbag lights came on, and a few minutes later the engine died. After sitting for few minutes, her car started up just fine and there were no more problems for a while.

After a week or so, she had the same problem. The Battery/Air Bag lights came on and then the engine died, but then the car started up again after a few minutes. This past weekend, the car did this four times in a row over the course of an hour, then started running fine. I checked it yesterday, and now the Battery light is on all the time. I've charged the battery, and the car will run fine, but then the Battery light comes on and all the guages (speedo, tach, temp, gas, etc.) shut off, but the engine keeps running. When I shut the engine down, I get clicks like the battery is dead.

She had her alternator tested twice when this started happening, and it tested fine. So I was thinking she's got a bad primary wire running from the alternator to the battery. Has anyone ever changed this wire before? Anyone have any other ideas? Relays?

thefonz

I would suspect a poor connection. check battery, solenoid, starter and alt connections are clean and tight, also check for corrosion under the insulation.