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[choke]

Hey guys, hope someone can help us.
Bought a 93 non turbo last month and me my girlfriend and I are driving it across country. Got to georgia and we're going about 60mph and the rpm dial just dropped to zero and the car totally died. Coasted to the side of the road, car still turns over but if wont fire at all.
Pulled the fuel line after the fuel filter and turned it over and gas flowed out strong.
Pulled a plug and it's getting no spark when I ground it to the head and turn the motor over.
I removed the fuse panel in the car and all wires going in and out look good.
All fuses under hood look good too and the wires going to it.
Do the coils go bad on these cars?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
It did this once before about 1500 miles earlier for a second but came right back on.
Oh and the oil pressure gauge is reading zero and has been like that for the last 200 miles, seems like a bad sending unit or gauge because it's been all over the place. The motor never made any strange noises or smoke.
Thanks

[blueamber]

So you've been by the side of the road in Georgia for a month?  Bummer...

Crank the car, if the tach doesn't jump a little while cranking, the ignition module in the distributor is probably bad.  Common failure, find a junk yard distributor or buy the module.

If the tach IS jumping, might be broken timing belt, or???

Good luck in Georgia...

[mitch1204]

Yeah probably the ignition module. Coils tend to go out slowly and get worse.

You said it happened once before and the oil gauge all over which is common. This car is bad about the ground wire connections corroding and also any electrical connector as far as that goes. They aren't weather tight connections.

Do the simple checks first and make sure your ground wires have good connections. Especially the engine ground straps. There's one by the passenger strut tower and also on the other side of the head attached towards the front of the same fender. There is also a ground block in front of the distributor. Since it cranks it probably isn't that but check anyways. Funny things happen when you lose your ground field. Also check the plug in connectors on the distributor. Any moisture or corrosion can shut her down. Dielectric grease is great for your under hood connectors. You can find it at any auto parts store. Was it raining when it quit?

The oil pressure gauge some say clean the passenger side ground strap which I done. I seen some improvements but not 100%. When I replaced my head gasket I noticed a very small oil port feeding the sending unit. I removed the sending unit and sprayed it out with carb cleaner. The same with the hole. The gauge has worked perfect since then and that was over a year ago. I figured trash was in that hole or sending unit. One could remove the sending unit and spray the other way without removing the head.

The coil, unplug the 2 pin connector and plug wire boot. Measure resistance across two pins first. That's the primary circuit. It should be 0.8-1.6 ohms. Now measure pin towards inside and the boot connection. That's your secondary circuit. That should read 6k-30k ohms. If not replace the coil.

Coil good? Have someone hold the key in the start position while you check for 6 volts or so at the negative (-) terminal on the coil. If there is voltage then something is wrong with the distributor cap or rotor. No 6 volts then check continuity on the pick up coil in the distributor. No continuity, replace pick up coil. Yes, continuity? Replace ignition module. The ignition module's job is to ground the ignition coil inducing a spark to your cap.

A cracked distributor cap can shut her down too. Remove the cap and lay it down where you can see inside it. Have someone crank the engine. Do you see a blue spark? Replace the cap. The darker the room the easier it is to see.

While you have the cap off and someone cranking. The engine, not a pipe, lol. Is the rotor button turning? No? Timing belt broke.

[chrispoe]

The first thing I would do is see if the tach is bouncing while you crank the engine. This will tell you where to look next.

If the tach doesn’t bounce while cranking, then you’ll need to check the timing belt and the electrical plugs going to the distributor (verify you have +12v on the black/white wire with the key is in the run position). If these check out, then the issue will be the ignition module inside the distributor.

If the tach does bounce while cranking, then you will need to check the electrical plugs going to the distributor, the distributor cap/rotor, the coil, and the wire going from the coil to the distributor cap.


As for the oil gauge, I would check the electrical connector coming off the sending unit on the back side of the engine. The electrical connector is notorious for corroding and causing intermediate oil gauge readings.

[choke]

Thank you all for the help!
I ordered an ignition module and a coil from auto zone just in case.
Luckily we broke down 10 minutes from my girlfriends dads house.
So we went on vacation with them to st Augustine for a few days to wait for the parts to get there.
I'll let you know what part fixes the problem!

[choke]

Hey Mitch1204 thanks, I'll try cleaning out the sending unit hole with carb cleaner. The gauge has been all over the place since I got the car, now it's just not reading at all.
It was not raining when the car died.

[choke]

It was the internal ignition module that was bad. That part was about $140 from auto zone but worth every penny when that thing fired up. I was able to replace it without pulling that part off the cam, I pulled the 3 wires and unscrewed the 2 screws holding it to the distributor and was able to pull it from that part it plugs into then plug the new one in. I went ahead and oredered a coil, cap and rotor just to be safe because we have about 2500 more miles left in the road trip.
Thanks again guys for all the help.

[mitch1204]

Good you found it. At least you don't have to worry about the distributor for awhile. That's what'll get me. I about replaced everything but the distributor.

Unless you have discounts at AutoZone I would shop Advance or RockAuto for the best deals. Both offer discount codes. Advance is high but with 30-50% off you can find good deals. RockAuto always has good deals and one of us usually has a 5% discount code. Sometimes Amazon and eBay win the price wars. Avoid the no name and made in China crap. Off hand I'm displeased with Driveworks and not impressed with Airtex products. Moog is good for the suspension and I've been satisfied so far with Standard products on RockAuto. Of course there are the good name brand products.

Happy wrench turning and hopefully the rest of the trip will be uneventful as far as the car goes.

[choke]

we made it all the way from los angeles to georgia back to LA, about 5,200 miles. the only other problem was when i started smelling coolant for about 500 miles but couldn't see where it was coming from, once it finally all leaked out the temp rose to the red and when i popped the hood i heard a hissing and felt around, when i grabbed one of the heater hoses and  moved it around the sound changed so i pulled it and it had a small slice in it. there was an auto zone around the corner and we found another heater hose that sort of matched and cut it up and slipped it on with some new hose clamps, filled it with a bottle of water wetter and some distilled water and it ran cool all the way home with the AC cranking the whole time thru the 105 degree arizona heat.
thanks again for all the help

[NomakeWan]

I hope you didn't lose the head gasket. Aluminum engine and all that. Super impressive driving it across the country both ways in a single trip, though! My Capri's only done half that, and it was a long time ago.