most cougars have a kill switch near the emergency brake under the dash easy to bump with your foot
1988 cougar will not crank over
safety starting switch
check the cables
Car battery is run down.
Replace it with a new radio or use car insurace
Out of gas?
Start by checking all of the fuses in the fuse block. There is a good chance that one of them has blown.
Start by checking the fuse.
yes but wont run for long, you will have no lights, horn, radio ect.
fuel filters tend to get clogged, check the air filter, if nothing improves then start pulling the plugs
Is it an ATX or MTX to start with? Look at the forum newcougar dot org, there's alot of people on there that can help.
put in the stock radio, does your car start, if it does then its the radio causing the problem, if not then more problems then the radio. if it does start with the stock radio in i would think the aftermarket radio is causing some kind of fault in the car, perhaps the radio is sending a faulty message in the i-bus telling the car not to start. i would jump out any bus wires so they are not routed through the aftermarket radio and see what happens. good luck.