2000 cougar breaking down

with a ampmeter try to find out the current draw that discharge the battery
hope it helps

So what do you have for voltage at the battery? Sounds like the alternator went bad. There should be around 14 volts at the battery with the engine running. Anything less and the alternator would be the first thing I suspected.

I’m happy to assist further over the phone at https://www.6ya.com/expert/jeremy_d728a59f986299fa

The only thing i can think of is to make sure you have a good ground to your alt, and body...

First remove the black engine cover that says 2.5 V6 Duratec 24 Valve etc, by removing 3 bolts. Then you can see the water pum, pulley and tensioner at the rear side of the engine (opposite to the battery). Just push the tensioner with hand or flathead screwdriver and take the belt off and put the new belt the same way.

only two reasons alternators go broke,one is **** quality and the second is belt too tight.......

Your alternator isn't putting 14 volts out to the battery. Check the stator wire on the alternator and the 3 wire plug make sure there is no gap on any of the alternator connectors and they are on VERY firm!

Hook up a multimeter inside your car and watch the battery voltage! if under 14volt you got an alternator problem!

throttle position sensor?

put a blow dryer on the distributaor cap and spark plug wires. somehow moisture is getting under your cap. it should start almost immediatly after you start drying it with your blow dryer

look under the dash and find the break pedal. follow the break pedal arm up under the dash. there should be a small switch that the break pedal arm presses in when you push the pedal. this switch can either be bad or it could be out of adjustment and something near by has moved and it is in a bind to where the switch is pressed in all the time.... has it been running your battery down...?

In some 1999/2000 Cougars the wire between the battery and the voltage regulator(altenator) had a resistance reading that is too high. Ford has issued an TSB 00-25-6 that has instructions on how to replace this wire. The part # for the replacement wire is
1S8Z-14A411-AA. I'm in Michigan and a local dealer found one for me in South Bend,IN