Car just quit at a stoplight, like I turned the key off. I have no CELs, theres power going to the coil. I checked the resistance of the coil and its within spec. I replaced the ignition module and it still doesnt start.

Also, I can hear the relay click when i first turn the key on like normal and the tach bounces when i crank the engine. The car also ran fine before this, never any problems with stalling, etc.

Could the sensor in the distributor be bad? Any other ideas?

Thanks,
Erik

 

Cap and rotor? Distributor?

 

This better not be my car, Eric.


Edit- I think Im confusing my erics.

Check the wires, the grounds and all sensors on the ignition. It didnt have any symptoms before quitting? Surging, bad mileage?

 

No symptoms of poor performance. Car has 176,000 miles on it (its totally stock) and i believe the distributor was replaced before I got it 2 yrs ago (the 92's had failure-prone distributors IIRC...) Ive been averaging 28 mpg and its NEVER sputtered or stalled at all. Im going to have to check the ground at the thermostat housing in the morning.

 

When you try to start it, does your CEL come on then go out immediately? If no, then MFR.

Did you check for spark at the wires?

How do you know its not a fuel problem?

I guess since your tach moves, the dist. rotor is spinning, so the cams are spinning, so the timing belt isn't broke, rules that out.

Oh, and my 92RS has 294K miles on the distributer, but cap, rotor, coil and ignitor are new. Are they really prone to failure? I guess your refering to the dizzy bearing that goes, or maybe you mean the coil and ignitor.

 

Checked for spark at the wires AND directly at the coil with a spark tester. Nothing.

Yes the check engine light comes on, then the relay clicks again and the light goes off, just like it always does.

 

Would the ignition/starter relay cause this? Its located over near the A/C unit under the dash, looks like a rectangular black box if I remember correctly.

 

Would the ECU still light up the check engine light normally when you first turn the key if the ground on the thermostat housing was bad? Or would the ECU not power up at all?

 

The dizzy simply frying is very common with with DA's, mine did at like 110k, my friends at 180k, etc. My money's on the dizzy.