intermittent start issues

[hermit]

hey everyone, finally got my festiva on the road as of 4 days ago =P been having the same problem ive always had and cant seem to remedy it. i can drive it 5 minutes.. to 1 hour.. when I turn it off it wont run for a good half hour to an hour making quick stops a pain. itll just crank and never turn over. but if i leave it and come back itll fire up right away.

stuff fixed thus far
new:
gas tank
fuel filter
fuel pump
wires/plugs
all 4 struts
outer tie rod ends
lower control arms
front/rear brakes & e-cable
battery
battery connector pieces
wiring for rear hatch
lots of wiring in engine bay
windshield
4 aluminum rims, 4 new all season tires
timing belt, installed myself, then timed at a shop
ect..

cleaned the dist and sanded all the contacts clean
replaced the igniton coil and module
rewired the cooling fan
unclogged the air filter box
oil change, topped up trans fluid
changed over to cartridge fuses

some of the things ive been thinking i need to do
new valve cover gasket
timing belt covers
new battery cables
clean the contacts on the grounds
engine coolant change

any ideas as to why it wont start after driving it? i noticed the pulley on the alternator is tight, but i also noticed 1 of the 3 screws holding on the pulley is snapped off? maybe a culprit, most of this stuff on the car atm is all original parts and its sitting at 456k, so it could be anything

[Pu241]

Don't think it would be the ALT pulley causing it not to start.
But you really do want to take care of the pulley ASAP if it shears off, not unheard of in this forum I might add, you lose power to the water pump and the engine over heats.
Warping the head!
Requiring a head rebuild.
Don't ask how I know, I'm still pissed!

You may have a bad igniter, which is inside the distributor.
Its electronic and will often fail as you describe it.
Runs fine when cold/cool when the distributor finally see a higher temp the igniter fails.
Check this out:

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22235

Read the whole thread think it covers your problem.

[hermit]

is it easy to change out? wouldnt want to have to reset my timing belt in this cold weather outside hehe.

[Pu241]

Your base timing will not be affected.
And unless you move your distributor to use the go/no go tester (you may not have to), or you remove it to test it, your distributor timing will also be unaffected.
Nothing really to change out unless you find you have a bad igniter then you have to determine if you want to swap in a known good one (and re-set the distributor timing) or order a new igniter and disassemble the distributor to replace it, re-assemble it, and re-time it.
Provided the igniter is available.
I would think re-timing the distributor is easier and less annoying than waiting for it to start again, knowing one day the igniter will fail completely and it will never start!

[hermit]

im not sure what the problem was but my mechanic replaced my distributor when i had my clutch redone and the problem has gone away.

[GenevaDirt]

most likely the module inside the Disty....I believe that is what John was talking about....they can be intermittent until they completely fail.