ok, i was driving down the hiway yesterday and all of the sudden, my car dies, loose the engine. i still had my electricity, but no engine power. i was an hour away from my house, i had to have it towed back to my house and that ****e was 150 bucks. that royally pissed me off. so anyway, i thought it was the pump, wasnt the pump, so i checked the filter, wasnt the filter. i dont know too much about the cap and the coil and all of that electrical stuff, my car still wont start. please help me, i have no ride and places to be!!! on an ironic note, my car died while i was on my way to a car show. lol. *** works in funny ways sometimes

 

well ur engine will need three things to run, air/fuel/spark....if your fuel is in good condition then that probalby isn't your problem. We'llaccept the idea that you're probably getting sufficient air to your motor but spark is a Q to answer. So, i'd say for you to pull a spark plug wire from the engine, then get it very close to one piece of metal (the intake normally works decent enough) crank the engine and see if the spark arcs to the metal ground, the spark should be a bright bluish color, if it's not then you have a weak spark, or if theres no spark you either, don't have the wire's boot close enough to the metal, or ignition components are dead. Keep us posted on what happened, and by the way, how'd u check ur fuel pump?

When my fuel pump went out, i could still hear it prime before starting the engine, i could also start the engine, but after you started accelerating the engine would die and need to be restarted.

 

double post

 

my dad thought it was the pump but i unhooked the tube to the fuel filter and when i turned the key to on it shot out all kinds of gas, and that was about 10 minutes after i drained the line and let it loose pressure. i'll check the spark tomorrow, it's a lil late. thanks bro

 

no prob...will the engine run right now though? just curious again....if so the pumps still a posibility, if not, then it might be time to tear the distributor down to take a peek on the inside and under Mr. Cap & Rotor.

 

ok i got antzy, i couldnt wait to know the problem with my baby. the sparky is a cruddy dull orangy yellow. that cant be good. how do i fix this???

 

well, we might have narrowed it down slightly to beign bad spark...so we do know this, the spark isn't good, so it might be wise to do a tune up depending on how recently you had one done.I'd concentrate on the ignition components, but work cheap to expensive. I'd pull the distributor cap off, replace it, replace the rotor, and replace the plug wires. If your spark doesn't improve after that, we may be talking a coil, ignition wires, etc....by the way is your computer turning any codes? This could also lead us into different direction, but there's no guarentee....you can find an article on how to trip the codes if you don't know, i do know that on my car, i turn the key to the on position (not start) then go to the ALDL port under the driver side dash, you then connect the think it's 5th and 6th ports on that system and your SES light will flash with the codes....there's an article on here on how to decpher it, you can also use this site to look up the codes that are there....thinkit's under FAQ...i think, but search on the left side of the screen at thirdgen.org's startup to be sure

 

I don't know if this will help (I'm not a mechanic), but the same situation happened to me a few times in the past. I was driving down the road and the entire car shut off. I came to find out that I was leaking coolant, and it was shorting out the ignition coil or something along that line.

Thanks, Firebirdjoe

 

i know i'm not leaking anything, so thats not the issue. i'm not throwing any codes, i did the ALDL thing and i got a 12, which is nothing. my dad did say something about maybe the cap could be cracked and that will lead to poor ignition. how do i do all that stuff you just said. i know how to fix mechanical parts of cars. i havent learned the art of ignition and electricity yet.

 

This is probably not your problem, but when my car died 3 years ago, it was a broken connection in the weatherpack terminal in the coil, not to mention a weak starter. Coil was fine, but the electrical connection was pretty much shot. It took 2 shops and 1 month and $600 to get that all sorted out.

Originally I thought it was the fuel pump, but it still primed with fuel and such and I could still use electricity like you said and my car would turn over, but not start.


After that, I went crazy and bought every ignition upgrade and accessory possible, such as Accel 300+ and Coil, Ignition module, distributor, Accel caps and rotor, Bosch + 4s, MSD wires, 900 volt (truck) battery, and a high torque starter and solenoid.


Haven't had an ignition problem since.

Not sure what your could be, but thats just one possibility.

 

the distributor cap should only be held in place by two screws, they'll be at the base of the cap on opposite sides, if you pull that piece off you should be able to see if it's cracked or not...underneith the cap is the rotor, it's a small rotatable disc, the rotor will pop straigtht up off the distributor shaft, but remember where it was pointed, because if it's in the wrong location, you're engine will have the wrong timing (firing the wrong cylinders at the wrong time). if ya go to autozone and buy a new cap/rotor it should only cost you a couple bux, also pick up a haynes manual if you don't have one....it'll outline everything that you've already heard in a lil' better detail, plus it'll save you time of running from the car to the computer to recheck the instructions.

 

lol, thanks guys

 

I'd replace the coil first off (sounds most likely what the spark color problem is). Also replace the rotor, cap, and maybe the module. Also, go for cables while your at it and maybe plugs. I'd start off with the coil first and check the wiring to the primary circuits to it (the main wires to the coil) and see if their bad. I'd check in the chiltons book and start probing with an ohm meter on the primary circuits and compare the values to the book. The book should also help ya out with all sorts of other stall reasons. Good luck man.