whytry2002

Hi,
I haven't had a need to post on here before but car broke yet again, trying to see if I can find the issue myself this time. I was driving on the freeway in stop-n-go traffic, mostly 1st gear then all of the sudden it bogged down very quickly(almost instantly cause it stalled right away) and wouldn't start again. Successive tries to start it yielded normal cranking and it felt like it was going to start but later on it would just crank.

Fuel regulator reads pressure and I can hear the fuel pump priming, IGN and FUEL Pump fuses are good, spark plugs look fine.

I think it's an electrical issue because I have s300, hooked up to SManager and did datalogging while trying to start it, after 5 cranks CEL comes on Code 15 but goes away after I turn it off and then turn ignition back to on. It came back only once more after 5 cranks.

I suppose it's the distributor that the spark plug wires are connected to. Well at the bottom of it, is a fifth wire that goes to a square looking thing on a weird bracket(but then again my car is custom). When I pull the spark wire that goes from distributor to that box, inside that box smells burnt and looks like some charcoal. See attached pictures.
http://i629.photobucket.com/albums/u...Picture001.jpg
http://i629.photobucket.com/albums/u...Picture002.jpg
http://i629.photobucket.com/albums/u...Picture003.jpg

Thanks for any input.

Hondaruss

That square box you referr to is the ignition coil. Have took a spark plug out connected it to a wire put it on the motor somewhere that is bare metal have someone try to start the car and see if there is spark. and report back to th thread.

whytry2002

I unscrewed #4 spark plug from the engine, plugged it into the spark plug wire and while someone is cranking the car I held it up against the engine block.

There was no spark, no arcing.

Did you look at picture #3? It looks like that connection has something burnt, or is it supposed to look like that?

whytry2002

I'm gonna have to say problem lies in ignition coil/distributor cap. Can anyone give me a basic walkthrough testing of distributor and ignition coil? I know I'm gonna need a multimeter for that but what should I be testing for and when(ignition on/off)?
Thanks.

P.S. I wasn't running on boost, the only condition that preceded the incident was ston-n-go traffic and it being very hot outside. Can something in the ignition go bad? Like if it's too hot, the ECM would retard ignition and it break somehow that way?

Hondaruss

Yes i agree there is a problem with the ignition circuit. Heat is a killer on anything electronic heat could play a factor in it. I do not have the specs handy at the moment. Start with this site : http://techauto.awardspace.com/ignition.html#4

Another thing is see you have s300 ...download the map.. make sure you are online with the s300 crank it and see if it shows a rpm when cranking. if it does i would narrow it down to the ignition coil