Found a-n-o-t-h-e-r problem with this non-running '95 Contour SE, 2.5L w/atx.
Battery doesn't seem to hold its charge, so I ran a current drain test. With the courtesy lamp fuse pulled there is a 151 milliAmp current drain. (Shop manual says it should have no more than .05 amp - max!)
I started at the main fuse box (under the dash) and pulled each fuse one at a time and checked the current drain. No change! Then I proceeded to check the relays in the main fuse box. Bingo! When I remove the Courtesy Lamp Relay, (which was warm to the touch), the current drain drops to 3.6 milliAmps!
Testing this relay with a DVOM, it shows 76 ohms on the coil side and open on the switch side, which seems good to me.
After getting crosseyed trying to follow the wiring diagram, it looks like this relay is pulled in by the Central Timer Module, and at that point it provides the ground for the various courtesy lamps.
Since the CTM plugs into the back of the Main Fuse Panel, and the Courtesy Lamp Relay plugs into the top of the Main Fuse Panel, it doesn't seem that a stray hot wire could be energizing the relay.
(And I'm assuming the coil side of the relay is causing the current drain, as (V/R=I) 11.8 V/76 ohm = ~155 milliAmps, which is pretty close to what I was reading. Any thoughts on this?)
My questions are:
Does the Courtesy Lamp Relay appear to be good?
(Don't wanna change parts if nothing is wrong with 'em.)
Is there a way to determine if the CTM is functioning properly?
(Maybe the CTM is toast and is holding the relay in all the time.)
Is there something that I'm completely overlooking?
