Tschneid

Starter is gotta be worn out from trying to crank so many times

mattdel

It could be heat related failure(the engine i mean), which usually starts with TFI replacement and can end up @ the PIP. It might end up being that, but your description sounds more like a cat failure + a little coincidence with the plug wire. Old cats can fail just for being old.. most times they fail because raw gas made it's way into them. If you were on the highway and it just died, that's one thing. You say the car stumbled to a slow death off the ramp. That's indicative of a mechanical failure rather than electrical.

Tschneid

I was on the high way and it just died. It wouldn't accelerate i would push on the gas and it wouldn't go anywhere till i ended up pulling over where the car turned off.

Tschneid

I loosened the bolts at the collectors, still same issue. Car will almost fire , its right there but after a couple tries even with a car jumping my battery it wont fire up.

mattdel

Ok then, good chance the distributor electronics are at fault. It's a guessing game at this point with everything working the way it is, so pickup both a TFI and PIP and that should solve it.

Tschneid

Went ahead and picked up TFI, car got a little closer to firing up when trying to crank it. Went back to auto parts store and got Pick up Coil Sensor. Installed it , car still wont fire. Could it be that my fuel pump is bad , even though its still priming ?? Starter going bad?? Now im thinking that the ecu is completely fried . This is starting to get ridiculous . Im at a dead end . I dont know anyone who has a ecu that will work to try in my car. Somebody please help . Im hearing ECT sensor could cause this. But im not getting a code when i pull the KOEO codes. Just codes 10(airbag),and 11 system passes.

mattdel

Wow. Hmm.. Not expecting that to not work. Ok...

A dead ECT would cause either a rich condition or a failure mode condition depending on how bad it was. Would still start if the spark was there & on time.

The pump could be bad, but it's usually about 8 out of 10 times that when they die, they just die. Not so often do I run across one that slowly eek's out it's death with low pressures. A quick test would be how far the fuel spray goes if you depress the valve on the fuel rail while pressurized. Kinda unsafe but if it comes out and goes 12"+ up, good bet that the pump is good. You could always pickup a gauge if you don't have one already.

If you have a buddy with a set of noid lights, or you can get to an Autozone(rentable), pick up a set and see what your injectors are doing through the key phases and while cranking/sputtering/running.

Tschneid

i ended up pulling the passenger side kick panel and took the ecu out. A resistor on the circuit board was fried. Going to find another computer tomorrow.

mattdel

My guess would be the spark from the melted boot managed to run around the ground circuit and well, the rest is history.

Tschneid

Re-soldered the new capacitor on the ecu, car starts. Wont start when hot though. Headers have had to heat soak starter, found sn95 starter for $25, installed car cranks over real fast now.. Drive around block , car is starting to get hot, so i park. Im checking fluids and notice that there's water in the oil when i pulled dipstick. I check all the cylinders and notice that there is water in the #1 . Tomorrow im gonna pull the lower manifold and see whats going on down there. Thats probably why its running lean and driving like it has a miss or something.