Electrical Issue

1996 MERCURY COUGAR
146,000 MILES • 3.8L • 6 CYL • RWD • AUTOMATIC
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PAULA SITARZ
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  • 1 POST
I really need some help please! Yesterday my car went into park perfectly fine. My cigarette lighter fuse was blown so i changed it. Went for a drive about five miles. Put the car in park and i was not able to press the button in the shifter to get out of park. I used force got it home. Brakes lights did not work and the cigarette lighter did not work. Noticed radio was not on at all. Dressed power it wont come on. Today i replaced the brake light switch. They still do not work. I noticed today the hazards do not work either, but the blinkers do just as long as the hazards are off. So no brake lights, no cigarette lighter, no radio or hazards lights. Can someone please give me some guidance on what to do next? I have checked all fuses and they are all good and getting power.
Sep 29, 2017 at 6:13 PM
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STEVE W.
  • CERTIFIED EXPERT
  • 15,113 POSTS
All of those systems share one main fuse #12 it is a 40 amp in the power center. They also share a few grounds that all go back to the main ground bus bar, but the lights are on a different ground.
I would start by verifying that the power from fuse 12 is actually getting through. It would not be the first time a fuse connection got hot and lost contact in the box.
Then try running a ground jumper from the cigarette lighter ground to a known ground. 40 amps could have burnt off a small wire.
Sep 30, 2017 at 2:56 PM