Yesterday i'm going about 70 in od at about 2k rpms and i feel something weird through the pedal let off of it and hear this loud bang, like a backfire, and i lost the engine and rolled off the highway,

All the electronics and stuff work, the trans shifts into gear, the engine's not seized because all the stuff spins with crank and it sounds like it wan'ts to start but won't.

I was thinking it could maybe be the timing chain, or did I lose a valve?

and to add, this is a meticulously taken care of car, very clean.

What do you guys think?

 

Well, pull the dizzy cap and crank the engine. If the rotor doesn't turn, the timing chain is toast (or the cam is). If it does, pull the valve covers off and look for any valve problems.

After that, check for the usual spark and fuel flow...

 

If it the timing chain ,it won't do anything, sounds like another fuel pump bites the dust to me.

 

I'm getting it towed to school tomorrow, I had to leave it in somebody's driveway for a day, as everything was closed today, and i'll pull the distributor cap, and look for it to spin as I crank, or if it does then pull the valve covers

As for the fuel pump, it was done "professionally" a little over a year ago, but i suppose these things do fail?

Thanks for the help thusfar, I need you guys

Oh and when it turned off on me the check engine light came on, does that eliminate the fuel pump theory?

 

Not really, OBDI lights can come on for just about any reason. Often times they're not very helpfull in diagnosing problems, just narrowing them down sometimes.

Just Checking for fuel and spark will narrow the problem down alot!

 

check the coil wire, if anyone use a quick splice for a tach, it probably cut the wire nearly in half, been there done that

no really, read the end of my thread in sig.

 

Thanks for the replies and help, you know i need u guys

I got it to school and started testing the 5 things that make an engine run, first i checked the fuel squirting starter fluid in the throttle body, then i checked all wires, dis. cap, spark plugs, timing (was good thank god), air, then next to check was spark....BINGO..so i stuck a screwdriver in one of the boots, held it half and inch away from the intake, cranked and no spark...the culprit so at least I narrowed it down to that..

After i found no spark i checked the distributor, wires, good, and then took the two connectors out of the ignition coil and found no resistance, but the wire to the coil was powered 12.00, so I think I have it narrowed down to either the control module, or ignition coil, leaning toward ignition coil, but don't know.

I guess the decreasage in spark all in all could have caused the fuel to build up and then that last spark mixed with that fuel was probably the big backfire i had??

What do you guys think, and is it worth double the price to upgrade to MSD or keep it fresh factory???

Thanks Guys

 

I would also do a full tune up, cap rotors, plugs wires.........

but replace new parts one at a time.

fix the bar min to get spark back, then change more.

can confuse thins if you change to much at once and then still have problems.


I know a MSD was nicer on my carb'ed V8, much smoother idle.

Stock system on a FI V6 seems to do what is asked and more.

 

I agree, it seems to get the job done, so ditch the msd thought?

How often do you guys replace cap/rotor/wires/plugs , teach says these platinum 2's could go around 90,000 in most cases (of course being checked periodically), wires/cap/rotor every 30k?

 

Check both the wire between the coil and the module and the module itself (need to have the module tested).

Ditch the platinum plugs... The engine will run worse with them installed. It doesn't matter how many side electrodes a plug has, it will still fire on only one of them. Which makes the fact that you're paying 3x as much for a single plug pointless.

 

same thing happened to me and my 86 Z my problem was the Ignition Coil!!!

 

Will do, but does it in fact run worse? Didn't understand what people were sayin when they told me i didn't need those

But I will test it, I have all continuity specs and what not courtesy of
All-data

BUT just in case it is the coil does anyone have any tips on how to take that damn bracket off!!?? Do I gotta take off the egr, and the other brackets around?? One of the two bolts is somewhat accesible but the other is down on the underside of the coil bracket??

Thx Again

 

stock coil is rivited on, drill out.

stock replacement coil comes with long bolts.

 

Yup those two rivets..Will do, i'll let you know what happens tommorrow, after testing and replacement, hoping to get the bird operational for the weekend, the bus is hectic these days

 

I used to put delcos in my Firebird, until I went through 2 sets in 2 years... An ASE master tech I work with has a restored 2.8, told me to replace them with bosch platinum plugs, I'm on my 2nd year with these and no problems.
I used to be on that "platinum spark plugs are no better" bandwagon, until I actually tried them.

Really like this coil mount, would have been so much easier:

 

I think a it depends on the engine, I had platinum plugs in my car (2.8 camaro) and they didn't last long at all. Switched to the cheapie delco's and they have worked great. My dad's ford ranger takes motorcraft platinum plugs anything else and it has no power. My old firebird (305 tbi) used to respond well to NGK Iridium plugs only used 1 set the whole 3 years we had that car.

 

I had the +2 plugs on my car (because I couldn't get the +4's I wanted) for about a month... Went back to the $2 Delco plugs because the +2's were so horrible (and expensive) and haven't looked back...

There's 4 rivets on the coil, 2 in the top and 2 in the bottom, and yes, the rear alternator bracket and EGR have to come off to get the EGR solenoid/ign coil bracket off. Don't break the bolts or you'll have a LOT of fun drilling the bolts out ( Been there).

 

Well guys,

After further testing and reading, and more testing I chopped it down to the ignition control module underneath the distributor cap.

I replaced module, cap, and rotor, and the car sounds really different now, the exhaust sounds like airy and not as loud, but when accelerating it sounds good, don't know, and idle's slightly rough at times...But at least I Got him up and running

What do you guys think?

 

Is that all custom? That's a beautiful engine bay by the way, i'd like to chrome my intake, and at least get some valve covers as well sometime, after the cold air intake

 

Going from weak spark to a strong one can change engine note, and definitley how it preforms. You may have to do an idle relearn, although I have done them sometimes and sometimes not, doesn't seem to make any difference.

The pic isn't of my engine (unfortunatley).

 

Yeah that definitely makes sense, have to examine some more tomorrow...what are the details on the idle relearn?