94 Plymouth Acclaim - No spark

While driving down the road a fire truck with its lights was coming up behind us. I went to pull over and the car died and would not start again. We towed it home and I stuck a screwdriver in a plug wire and set it near the frame while someone turned it over. No spark. I also stuck it directly in the coil wire going to the distributor and nothing from there either. I don't know if that is a good test but I thought just in case the distributor wasn't passing anything to the plug wires I might by pass that issue. When I get a ride, I'm going to get a new coil from Oreilly or Advance Auto. Anyone else have any thoughts?

Reply to
he1vis
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Well, I got a new coil and it still does the same thing. I looked in the fuse box and didn't see blown fuses. Anybody know how I go about finding out why there doesn't seem to be any juice getting to the coil?

Reply to
Helvis

You might start by telling us what engine you have.

Reply to
clifto

it's a 4 cylinder.

Reply to
Helvis

Have you checked to see if the distributor rotor is turning when you crank the engine. If not, your timing belt is most likely broken.

Another common failure that will give a no spark condition is the pick up coil in the distributor.

You've already learned that it's not a good idea to start throwing parts at it. It might be a good idea to have a tech look at it.

Good luck Larry

Reply to
Larry W

Coils fail, but not very often.

You have a sensor that determines the crankshaft position, which goes to the computer, which goes to an ignition module, which goes to the coil, which goes to the distributor, which goes to the plug.

You now know that the problem is before the distributor high voltage section. Now, measure the primary of the coil. If you don't see pulses while cranking on the coil primary, it's before the coil.

A code reader should tell you if the computer is seeing the signal from the position sensor.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

Which engine? since you say "coil" (singular) I'm assuming its not a

3.3 which has distributorless ignition. If its a 2.5 4-banger, check the hall pickup in the distributor, that's a fairly common failure point..

Regardless of engine (3.0 or 2.5), make sure the cam(s) are turning, because it could be a snapped timing belt or distributor drive.

Reply to
Steve

According to my factory manual (which I can't seem to find just now), the

3.0 is as big as it gets in a '94 Acclaim. I suppose it's not impossible for one to have gotten a '93 engine, though; mine seems to have gotten a '93 transaxle.
Reply to
clifto

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. At the moment I don't have the tools to remove the shroud over the timing belt but I'm pretty sure that is the problem. That is what I thought when it first occured but I couldn't see anything to know for sure so I went with the easiest thing to replace, which was the coil. I have since removed the distributor cap and found that the rotor doesn't move when turning over the engine. O'reilly said I could bring the coil back if it wasn't the problem so that is no biggie. A neighbor is going to loan me some tools so I should be able to confirm the problem this afternoon. I couldn't remember how to check the codes from the check engine light but I found my cheat sheet for that so I'll see what it says also. The engine is the 2.5 liter SOHC. I have a mechanic that said he could replace the timing belt for $225 but that sometimes the valves get bent if the engine is running when the belt breaks and that would cost at least another $750 to remove the head and rebuild it. Anybody know if that is a common problem with this motor?

Reply to
Helvis

Well, there you have it. Have you been replacing the belt on schedule like the manual tells you to do?

You don't need any confirmation. Either the belt is broken, or (less likely) the camshaft or distributor gear is bad. All the code reader will tell you is that the computer isn't getting any signal from the position sensor, which you know already.

The engine is the 2.5 liter SOHC. I have a mechanic that

Yes, but I don't know what your odds really are. This is why it is so important to follow the maintenance schedule.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

The 2.5 is NOT a valve bender.

Reply to
aarcuda69062

That's good news. More good news is that the car is now fixed. I asked the neighbor to borrow his metric tools and he came over and replaced the timing belt. He is ASE certified and obviously one hell of a neighbor!

Reply to
Helvis

Let me know when you sell your house. :)

Reply to
clifto

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