I was on the way to visit some friends at their job and took the off-ramp at a decent speed and took the turn. It wasn't very hard. I have cheap tires and it didn't even screech... next thing i know the car dies and I can't turn it back on and i'm stuck in the middle of the intersection

I got help getting it pushed into the parking lot hoping it'll turn back on after a while, in which it didn't. After inspecting the car, my friend and I realized the car is not getting any spark? What would cause that to happen just taking a turn?

We came to a conclusion that the coil might have gone out OR the timing belt must have slipped off and bent the valves... I'm really hoping for #1. If anybody else has any other suggestion at what I could look at, please do so.

Thanks for the help!

 

I don't believe the timing belt can 'slip' off the cam gear, well if it wasn't installed correctly then that could've happened. What happens when you try and turn the car over?

 

yeah, i really doubt it's the timing belt... it's just a possiblity. As far as the car... it just keeps WANTING to turn over, but it doesn't.

 

my guess is that its a bad ground someplace and taking that corner just totally messed up that ground wire someplace. or it was just mare coincidence that it happened on the corner.. i was driving down the road one day and my car just totally Died.. it was the dizzy rotor and dizzy cap, then i just ended up putting a whole new dizzy on.. lol so if the dizzy still is turning over when you crank the engine and it seems to be cranking fine check the dizzy. and your grounds. (my opinion)

 

Do you hear the fuel pump prime?

 

check the starter wire the little one that goes to it also check the fuses my buddy pulled his ebrake and blew one and it wouldnt start he pulled off his hole dash trying to find wires this and that then check the fuses and blam! good luck man

 

i heard the fuel pump... so that can't be it, so it either has to to do something with the dizzy or some wires that came loose somewhere... going to check it out tomorrow morning

thanks for all the responses

 

ttt

 

Timing belt is in no way at all a possibility. There is no way you could crash valves into the piston and not know it. Trust me.

To whoever said check the starter you should just shoot yourself. The starter ONLY job is to crank the engine, if the engine is cranking normaly then you can rule out the starter.

You said you were not getting spark correct? That means that it is an IGNITION problem. NOT a fuel pump or an engine ground.

How did you check for spark?

Start by checking the secondary ignition circuit. i.e. everthing after the coil. Mainly because it is easiest to get to. If the primary circuit was more accesible that would be the place to start looking because if you get junk in you are going to get junk out.

Check the resistance of your plug wires. It should be somewhere between 7 and 15K Ohms. If it is more than that replace them.

Check the distributor cap and rotor, and the distributor itself as well.

If all of this checks out, check the coils resistance and check it for shorts to ground.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JDM-97CX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Timing belt is in no way at all a possibility. There is no way you could crash valves into the piston and not know it. Trust me.

To whoever said check the starter you should just shoot yourself. The starter ONLY job is to crank the engine, if the engine is cranking normaly then you can rule out the starter.

You said you were not getting spark correct? That means that it is an IGNITION problem. NOT a fuel pump or an engine ground.

How did you check for spark?

Start by checking the secondary ignition circuit. i.e. everthing after the coil. Mainly because it is easiest to get to. If the primary circuit was more accesible that would be the place to start looking because if you get junk in you are going to get junk out.

Check the resistance of your plug wires. It should be somewhere between 7 and 15K Ohms. If it is more than that replace them.

Check the distributor cap and rotor, and the distributor itself as well.

If all of this checks out, check the coils resistance and check it for shorts to ground.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

i'll check it out, thanks!

 

I never said it was a fuel pump problem. If the fuel pump doesnt prime and you dont get spark whats the problem, the main relay. Thats what i was getting at.

Anyway try swapping out dist. or get a donar dist and take out the guts and swap that.

 

My car did the exact same thing and I am trying to find an answer to why it died. I started the car fine and all. but just as I was leaving my driveway, 1st gear was fine and second gear just seemed to died a second later. A mysterious death. I could start it up. it cranks and doesnt turn over like yours. everything happen the exact same way. so I am looking for help too. I opened my distributor cap but i didnt notice anything different. I never looked at a distributor rotor with the cap off before. Its yellow with little black crust on it. I still need to check if the distributor is sending any sparks through? i am going to try the old remove the spark plug and see if it sparks way.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JDM-97CX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
You said you were not getting spark correct? That means that it is an IGNITION problem. NOT a fuel pump or an engine ground.

How did you check for spark?

Start by checking the secondary ignition circuit. i.e. everthing after the coil. Mainly because it is easiest to get to. If the primary circuit was more accesible that would be the place to start looking because if you get junk in you are going to get junk out.

Check the resistance of your plug wires. It should be somewhere between 7 and 15K Ohms. If it is more than that replace them.

Check the distributor cap and rotor, and the distributor itself as well.

If all of this checks out, check the coils resistance and check it for shorts to ground.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

what do you mean by secondary ingition curcuit? Sorry, but I am not too familar with electrical parts. I guess you mean check the wires that go to and from the distributor? I have new spark plugs and my plug wires are fairly new, so I could rule those out. I dont really want to replace a distributor if it is not the real problem. Its pretty spendy . I am also taking a wild guess that It might be a fuel filter problem, maybe its blocking off fuel. I could replace the rotor and cap?

 

Ok since two of you have the same problem, its most likely the internal coil. They just randomly die. Go buy a high power coil from autozone for like 50$. Or rip one out of an extra distributor. Might as well do a cap and rotor too. I will bet money both of your cars will be fine.

 

it's alive!

y0! thanks for everybody that responded!