So I'm just cruising along going on to one of those looptie exit ramps and the power steering goes away and the motor cuts off.

Now there were no service engine lights or drops in voltage (ie, not a bad alternator), so it was a pretty quick event.

I went to start it again, and the starter was doing its job, but the motor wasn't turning over . . . so I'm thinking it's either a fuel issue (injectors or fuse) or an ignition issue (???). It was dark, but I didn't see any wires off or anything easy like that, and the distributer was still in place.

After asking the cop to observe the injectors as I tried to turn it over, he said he didn't see any fuel, but I'm not so sure he new exactly what I was talking about, so that's still in play.

Any ideas?

It looks like I'm going car shopping tomorrow for a more reasonable daily driver.

 

motor not turning over? at all, then i'd think it locked up on you. Now if the motor was spinning over and no fuel then I'd suspect the fuel pump relay or the pump itself.

 

If the starters cranking around, I'd say there's a pretty good chance the flexplate is also turning, unless somethings wrong down there.

Pull a plug and check for spark.

 

my guess is i the starter works the engine is spinning or you have a locked up engine. my second guess would be to look at the control module.

 

Well I guess that's not as bad as if it quit parking while driving on the runway...

Seriously, sounds like the ignition module. That's assuming of course that it's turning over, but not starting up. Or, if it goes through a cycle as you turn it over of doing nothing for a while, then spitting back through the carb, then trying to start just a bit, then popping in the exhaust, then back to doing nothing, it's the timing set (cam gear).

Just FYI, I keep a spare ign module in my car nowadays. I've had about 4 or 5 of them just up and die on me over the years in various cars. They're super easy to change out by the side of the road, and not to $$$; so it's a good thing to just throw at it when it does that. I don't think I've ever had a car to just suddenly die like that for any other reason besides the module or the timing gear. Every other failure gave some kind of warning or some other symptoms besides just "turns over with the starter but won't run".

 

Sofa beat me to it..... they never seem to quit while parked on the driveway, they always seem to quit while driving on the parkway. Old George Carlin joke.

Shoot some starting fluid in the throttle body and see if it fires up for a second or two. If it does, you've got spark but you aren't getting fuel. If it doesn't you got no spark.

 

Well I didn't get to look at it all today with everything going on. But I'll try to explain better what it was doing last night.

Turn the key and starter does its job, and the engine makes just a little bit of noise, but won't run. It's almost like if you have a carbed car, and you're trying to start it on a cold day. I felt like I wanted to press the gas in as I turned the key. Eventually after trying this a couple of times, I started to drain the battery, so I had to stop.

I sure hope it's not a locked up motor, because this one only has about 30k miles on it. I wouldn't think it's the injectors, because what are the odds of both injectors going out at the exact same time?

 

spark or fuel issues.

 

I'd bet its the ignition module. Just tap the module and try and start it again. If it starts that was your problem. If not, check for fuel and spark and go from there.

 

SOMETIMES AFTER MODULES HEAT UP THEY FAIL.......ALSO CHECK THE FUSES. MY FRIEND ONCE CHASE A PROBLEM TWO DAYS BEFORE I SHOWED HIM IT WAS A FUSE LABELED "FUEL"

 

PS SINCE WHEN DO COPS PERFORM DIAGNOGSTICS. THAT WAS A COOL COP. HERE IN L.A. THERE USUALLY NOT THAT NICE. BUT THEN AGAIN I LIVE IN L.A.

 

See, I always thought that my car was cursed, but it turns out Gunny, it is because we live here in GA. That's your problem

 

Well it's definately not seized up. I went out a few days later and started her up and she ran like nothing was wrong. She did this for about 5 minutes, and then just cut right off.

Definately an ignition system issue I think.

Went out and bought a more reliable daily driver (03' Saab 9-3 Arc), so now I can tackle this problem a little more more methodically and even maybe get some more power out of her now the she's been retired to simply "fun" status.

. . . switch over to carb maybe?

 

maybe your fuel pump kicked the bucket

 

The fuel pump is a Walbro 190 unit that was put in during the Spring of 04'. Should be fine.

 

ok here is your problem under the distributor cap is the ignition mod it gets warm and shuts car off now that is what my car was doing all weekend 84 Z28 383 stroker 450 hp i changed everything so now it has neww pluge cap coil wires rotor and finnially ignition mod

 

So is the consensus a ignition coil? . . . or something else? I would think if it were something else like a rotor or a distributor issue that I would get an SES light or something.

 

Ignition module, not coil.

No the cap & rotor will not cause a SES light.

 

What exactly encompasses the "igntion module?"

Oh, and I just went back out there and took another look at her. Fired her up like the last time. Left her in park and just let her run. Everything is perfectly normal for about 7 minutes (all vitals are good). Just before she cuts off this time, I notice the RPM needle jump erradictly up to 1600-ish RPMs a couple of times although I notice no corresponding rise in the actual RPMs of the motor itself, then it cuts off.

 

Just go to the store and buy one. Then change out the piece that looks exactly like it. You'll find it in the dist underneath the rotor.

 

Oh yeah, now I remember.

So this would cause my RPM guage to flucuate just before cutting off and the actual motor itself cutting off huh? How much is one of these?

 

about 30 bucks, Yes a bad module could cause sparatic readings of the tach since the tach signal runs right through it.
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I bet while your cranking it after it dies, you don't see your tach move at all.

 

When the key gets turned to the on position, the tach needle rises to be parallel to the bottom of the dash, but while cranking it, it does not move. Is it supposed to? . . because I've never really paid any attention to that before. Yet, I did notice my oil pressure needle moving when I was cranking it, so I guess it's supposed to.

 

Ya, it is supposed too. That is one of the tests for a bad module... No tach signal while cranking.

 

First, make sure the (if you have one) external coil wires are not touching each other and shorting out. Second, you can take the ignition module out of the dist and take it to Auto Zone and they will test it for free. Get it tested before you waste the money on something that might not be wrong. Third, don't try seperating the coil wires with your finger like I did with the engine running you might develope a st.. st.. stutering problem like I ha...ha...have.

 

Haven't made it to Autozone yet, but while removing the cap and rotor, I discovered that only one of the screws holding down the cap was tight. The other one was not even threaded.

 

Well it's not the module. I went and got a new one. Put it on and ran it like normal. This time it went about 7 minutes before shutting off. The RPM spike wasn't as pronounced as yesterday, but it died none-the-less.

Any other ideas?

 

Change the coil.

 

ok lets try this i went threw the same thing i already did coil cap rotr wires plugs mod and car still dies it ran perfect for a day so letslook elese where how abot a fuel filt see my car has a strokerkit with an elebrock intake and carb so i am running out of ideas now any help for me

 

The fuel filter would seem plausible except that I don't see how it would run fine for a few minutes then choke off. I would also suspect that I would get some choking/sputtering prior to it cutting off from a loss of fuel, as opposed to just cutting off.

 

Not the fuel filter; fuel filters don't make the tach read weird.

Clearly an ignition problem of some sort.

Sorry it wasn't the module; virtually always, that's what causes this kind of malfunction. How did your old one test?

About all that's left is the pickup coil, the ignition coil, or the vehicle wiring; or possibly the distributor itself (the little star wheel thing in there).

 

The guy at Autozone said they don't test them. He obviously knows about as much about cars as my sister, so it was no use trying to convince him otherwise.

I guess I'll try the external coil next, although it is an MSD one that was only put on about 5 years ago. The distributor is a rebuilt one that was installed in March, so I hope that's not it seeing how I just bought the damn thing. If so, then I guess it might be time to move onto an MSD or Crane unit, even though I don't want to spend that kind of money.

 

The guy at AZ must be talking about his store. Either that or he's suckering you into buying a new module cause' he's too lazy to do it. I have 3 stores within 20 mi of my house and any one of them can test a dist. module. I've had it done, found it was bad, and replaced it, and the car runs like a champ.
I can only assume your putting the insulating silicon that comes with the new module on the bottom of it to insulate it from the heat because if you don't, it will heat up and quit on you. After your engine quits, are you checking for spark at the plugs? A simple test is to hook up a timing light and crank the engine over. No light, no spark. Got a light? then you have a problem elsewhere.

 

Checker, Shucks, and Kragen can't do it either. I know, I work ata a Kregen. We don't have any method of doing it and even if we did, I am certain our insurance company would throw a hissy fit like when we are told not to install wipers or batteries. Booo!

 

Sorry to hear that, must be a Ga. thing! I can't understand why they can't test it there? You send it to me and I'll get it tested for ya! Can they test an alternator? Might be a voltage thing. It takes alot of juice to run the comp. control system. Whatever it is, it seems to be related to heat, voltage, or something in the closed loop mode.

 

Sorry it's a been a while since this thing began. I just got around to playing with it again.

Anyways, I replaced the MSD coil with a new OEM coil and the battery got killed during this process as well, so it has a new one of those as well.

Turn the key and it fired up. Ran its normal course for 10 minutes or so before I got that quick spike in my tac (although no corresponding RPM increase in the motor) before it cut off. And now it won't start again. It's rolling over, but not starting.

So it certainly seems that when something is getting hot, it's turning off. The only thing left I can think of is the distributor itself.

Any other suggestions? Certainly doesn't seem like a fuel issue at all.

 

I think after all this, it may be a problem with the pickup coil...or maybe the reluctor on the dist shaft.

I would get a reman dist for $100 for advance or one of the other parts stores.

Good luck.

 

have you taken it to a mechanic? buying ignition module parts costs up in the hundereds of dollars, perhaps you could take it to somebody and ask them, we arent the only cars with an ignition module.

a while back my coil was blown, and i took it to a shop and they said it was a coil, but this spike in the tach i also had from screwin around with the wiring. you may have a short. what kinda coil do you have? is it HEI? is it a little square mounted near your rotor or is it a cylinder mounted on the firewall? or is it an aftermarket setup, and do you have those MSD ignition booster thingys? usually if the coil gets hot then the engine cuts, then it cools down and you can start it again.

it could also be the electric control timing in the rotor, the thing that does the advancing and sends info to your tach. thats directly in the rotor and all the wires plug into it.

 

I had pretty much the exact same thing happen to me in mine while in nj...just cruising along the parkway and then off.......it ws an ignition module...i got a new one..it didnt come with the little grease packet and i dint know better at the time so i just put in th enew module...about 10 minutes after putting it in..the car died again..so i go back and get a new one under warranty and it had teh grease so i put the grease in with it...and its worked ever since.......

 

What kind of dizzy do you have? I may have one you can just have.... 500 miles on it. If it is the one you need gunny.

 

"Dizzy?"

 

distributor

 

may want to check your EGR, if its throwing a code, its worth looking over. mine cause problems.

 

No codes yet.

 

Run-of-the-mill rebuilt one that I purchased off of Ebay about a year ago.

External coil type.

 

Victory appears to be mine!

Replaced the pickup coil today (major PIA by-the-way) and she appears to be fine now. Let her run in 'park' at idle for a while. She went all the way up to 220*, then the fan came on and then I put her in 'drive' and all went well. I'm going to drive her around the neighborhood tomorrow (as long as it's not snowing) and see how she does under load.

Thanks for all the help guys. Atleast I got a new module and coil out of theh whole ordeal and learned the inner workings on my distributor.