Hi All,
I'm new to the forum and picking up a 20th Anniversary Cougar this Sunday. The current owner says that half of the dash is not working along with radio and power door locks. He claims that he pushed the door lock button and all this stuff went kaputs. I've done some searching on here and have two main things to attribute this loss of power to 1. ignition switch and 2. wire shorting out somewhere.
Is there anything else I need to be aware of? It is a clean car, but I'm not up for a science project. Where would you guys and gals start if this problem was in your court.
Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.
Craig
I would replace the ignition switch if it's original. Even if it's not the problem, it's a fire risk if it's original. That will cause the dash and radio to act flaky too.
The door locks should work regardless of the ignition, that's probably unrelated. Might just be a fuse or a bad button.
$10 says the dash not working really means the light bulbs burned out. With the digi dash it's hard to see anything if the bulbs are burned out.
+1 on it being a bulb. OP states half of dash working, so I would check bulbs also.
If you don't have keyless entry, the door lock relays are under the passenger seat. Maybe something got under the seat and got tangled up with the relays.