I'm bringing my XR2 out of hibernation (I used to frequent this forum back when I drove the car as a daily driver in the 2007--2012 timeframe) and hoping to fix it up. I've had an intermittent issue dating all the way back to 2009 that pops up occasionally. It's bad/frustrating enough that the car is unreliable, and it's been haunting me all these years. I'd really like to get it dealt with once and for all.
Randomly, usually while the car is up to temperature but not exclusively, it will simply shut off (or not start). The engine cranks just fine, but it won't catch. And--this is the most valuable clue I have right now--there is no signal at the tach (even though the engine is very clearly turning over!). The tach also drops immediately to zero when it dies, even when you can hear the engine continue to turn over for a second or two as it dies out.
After a certain amount of time (anywhere from seconds to hours), the car will restart fine and drive like nothing happened.
When working this problem back in 2011, I replaced both the ECU and the distributor separately, and neither fixed the issue.
Coming at it again with fresh eyes, I've started to work the lack of tach signal. I've established that the signal comes from the ignition coil (not the distributor). I've established that if I disconnect the "input" to the coil (the two-prong connector coming in from the driver's side), I can recreate the fault: the car cranks fine, but no tach signal. (Not entirely surprising, since that's the source of the tach signal).
But I'm not 100% convinced it's the ignition coil itself. I'm wondering if it might be a ground--but which one? Another thought is a funny spot in the harness somewhere, which I'm not looking forward to tracing.
Any other thoughts, help, or advice on what this might be (and what I can do to establish that I "got it") would be very much appreciated! (This car was my grandfather's before I got it, and I can't wait to get it on the road again).