1990 lots and lots of issues

[Icedawg]

Icedawg Yes I was testing incorrectly, i have one prong that is loose so I wasn't sure if it was going to work that's why I figured testing continuity was needed. but I tested it today as you suggested and I have 14.8V on one side of each fuse.

So i did this test with the fuses out, sounds like they need to be in for a proper diagnosis, correct?

With the fuses back in, and the ignition key in run you should get voltage to the coil.
You can test the fuses, but I recall you said they were ok.
If no coil voltage in run, then you have to find out if the ignition switch is working, or if the main relay has failed.
Did you get headlights back?
Under the headlight on the driver side there is the main relay and the headlight relay.
You should be able to hear those relays click when you turn on the lights or turn on the ignition key to run.
If they do click then you need to look elsewhere for the electrical problems, if not, you need to check the relays and the ignition switch.

You may end up having to disconnect and clean every plug, because it can be so hard to trace this kind of stuff.

[Cdubb]

Update:

The power wire to the main relay by the overflow tank was severed, we fixed that and now the fuel pump works and I can hear what I assume is the fuel injectors now. However still no spark, we have power going to the coil but not leaving it. We did a test that makes me think the coil,which is new, is bad.

The test we performed was making leads with gator clips on each end and supply power and ground directly to the coil that way. We had a multi meter on the coil wire and at no time did we get a power reading from the coil. We should have gotten power from the coil this way correct?

If the coil isnt bad then where else do we check?

Also we still don't have headlights

[tooldude]

An easy test here would be to use a jumper (best to use an inline 20A fuse) to the coil+ and check for spark, bypassing all wiring problems. To me, it's unclear how you tested for "power from the coil:", whether in circuit; out of circuit; current through the coil; a voltage test from the negative side of the coil? which would in effect be placing both leads on grounds = no voltage. The new coil is not likely bad, but the resistance across the terminals (out of circuit) would be a good test to check for specs of 0.8 to 1.6 ohms because lower resistance will let too much current to flow through the Ign Module. Now that there is voltage to the coil, it would be good to check that it is not dropping low when the engine is cranked, which could indicate high resistance to B+ going to coil positive, or a weak battery. If that's good, possibly dist cap and rotor are bad, coil or spark plug HV wires are bad or arcing to ground, or spark is jumping from coil tower to ground (check in darkness). If all is good, then likely the Crankshaft Position Sensor in the dist. could be bad and not triggering the computer to ground the coil or the signal is not reaching the computer. Then there could be bad grounds for the computer or a bad computer.

[Icedawg]

Glad there is some progress.

I don't understand your coil test either.
I would hold the high tension lead coming from the coil close to a ground and look for spark when cranking start. (wearing an oven mitt and holding the lead with rubber handled pliers, or something like that)
Then do the same with a spark plug lead, to find out if it is a distributor problem or a coil problem.

With no headlights, do you have voltage at the headlight plug? Do you have voltage on the leads going into the headlight relay?
Are the bulbs just burned out? My headlight relay was making a horrible buzzing sound until I cleaned the terminals, as I mentioned. But when I fixed that I discovered the rapid oscillation of the connection had caused one of the bulbs to fail, even though it was OK before the buzzing occurred.

[Cdubb]

There was wire clips on each side of two wires each going to the positive and negitive posts on the battery back to the coreponding postive and negitive prongs on the plug going into the coil. The connector for this plug is white on my car.

The headlights will need further investigation, I know it's not the bulbs tho. Would that headlight relay also power the front running lights? I don't have them either but I have the rears.

[tooldude]

Are you saying there is a jumper wire from the positive terminal of the battery to the positive terminal on the ignition coil? - and there is a jumper wire from the negative terminal of the battery to the negative terminal on the ignition coil? If so, you need to remove the negative jumper wire because that will have the coil powered 'ON' continually, and no spark can be generated (and the battery must be run down by now?). If that is the way it's connected, then someone was trying to "hot-wire" the car to keep the ignition on (but incorrectly). If you leave the positive wire connected temporarily, you can do the test for spark I mentioned, or the engine may start. If it does start, disconnect the wire at the battery positive terminal first when you want to stop the engine.