Need any input ASAP...my girl's car is on the side of the highway!

She was cruisin' @ hiway speed when BAM, CEL comes on and car dies...

I showed up, checked ecu code (8) which is tdc sensor. Tried pullin' the hazard fuse to reset the ECU, no dice. Tried yanking the neg. battery cable also to reset ecu. Again, no luck. After the ECU is reset and the code is wiped clean, it'll crank 3-4 times and then choke(or cough, maybe? sounds like "ba-ba-ba-ba-brrrr" lol, not sure if that helps)

Bottom line the car WON'T start and is on the side of the road...do i need to try and reset tdc?? Replace distributor and/or dist. base assembly ??

I have a troubleshooting flowchart courtesy of we-todd-did (props) that I'm going to try as soon as I can find someone with a volt/ohm meter or whatever...

But in the meantime...any input or anyone else who has made thru this issue, your feedback is MUCH appreciated.

Car is a 91 DX HB, auto.

TIA

Later...

 

First thing to check is timing. If the timing is way off, it may throw a code 8. My car did the same thing. If the timing is off, reset it. If it's not, it may be the sensor. I believe it's in the distributor and the entire distributor must be replaced if I'm not mistaken.

 

Turned out the distributor was shot.

Replaced and all is well.

THANX!

 

Damn, good thing it was the distributor and not the timing belt....