Leaderboard

It was the neutral switch on the clutch. Also I found the first connector between the positive battery terminal and the fuseable links was loose which was causing the extra heat and resistance in the ignition. (Loose wires cause fires they say) Now that I got it back on the road, when I have time I will install the starter relay I bought and eliminate the connector below the ignition switch like nuru2 suggested. Thanks everybody for all the help.

the other half has a 2006 LL Bean Outback with the 3.0 that he bought several years ago - has been pretty decent. nothing major so far - not sure of current mileage but can find out easy enough.

Right, it will. That is because the coil is made of wire. Your picture showed the wires NOT connected to the coil, otherwise I would have said disconnect them.

sounds like the car is symptom free so, I wouldn't bother with the test.

When you turn the ignition switch key to ON, one of the two eyelets will show 12 volts and that one goes to the coil positive terminal. The other eyelet goes to the coil negative terminal. That wire actually goes to the transistor. The transistor should be grounded through the coil bracket. The third connection for the transistor is the wire that comes from the SPFI module that carries the pulses to make the transistor switch on and off to produce spark from the coil.

Legitimacy confirmed by a known Forum participant "at another forum" who happens to be a salesman at a dealership in Oklahoma. He also mentioned there is a push on to get older cars done as they are at greatest risk. I'm gonna try to schedlule the work soon but at a dealership. Better in case there's an issue afterwards.