Loses Spark

[jbrown]

Hey guys,

So the other day my 93 festiva 5 speed with the 1.3 just died. I cheched it out wiggled wires it started got it home. All the wires in the distributor plug were broken so I reconnected all of them to the terminals and pushed it back together and it ran good. Then the other day it just died again but this time I checked for spark and had none so I wiggled the two wire plug to the coil, nothing, checked the ignition coil wire to distributor, nothing, shook the whole coil and vroom I had spark and got it home again. Everytime it has died since I just shake the coil. I went ahead and dialectric greased all the connections again. But as of three months ago I have brand new coil, ignition module, a junkyard distibutor that has under 30k on it. as of last week new cap, wires, and rotor. I'm going to go run the haynes tests and post results but I don't know what the problem is.

[jbrown]

Fixed it!

[bravekozak]

Don't tease me. What was the problem? A bad ground?

[jbrown]

Haha I knew you would be the first to reply! Haha. I took off the two ground pads by both headlight and cleaned and greased them. I had it out running and pushed down the wiring harness and it started to die out. Pulled it around and it would lose the spark. My Ignition Module Wires were all beat up so rewired them up and went and got a plug from the junkyard as well as some other things the guy let me have for free like a new ignition switch. Wired it all in. Made a tester for the distributor I didn't end up using. Hopefully no more wiring problems for a while. Someone just bough

[natedog]

I have the same car with the same problem. It has intermittent spark and I have a distributor on order now for $200 bucks !! So it was just a ground problem ? When my car wont start I have no spark at the coil... The car runs then doesn't... Where did you check for a good ground ? by the headlight ?? And the ignition module where is that located?
If you can help me I would greatly appreciate it .

[natedog]

Your story sounds exactly like what I am going through right now..

[jbrown]

Yeah man no problem. The coil is up on the strut tower and the module is on the same platform. Run the tests in the chilton. Check the wires and terminals in the plugs that go to the coil, disty and module. Intermittent sounds like a connection. Check your dash when the key is in the on position is there a check engine light? Where are you from?

[natedog]

No check engine light on and I've been checking connections and for any shorted or bare wires and haven't found any yet.. Ive got to find a chilton manual for it dont have one.. I was just out there and the car is running fine right now, but it will just quit then I will have no spark at the coil. I've been trying to find some tests I could perform on the coil and the m distributor that way I could verify they are working correctly while the vehicle is in a intermittent no spark condition. I am from NW Indiana.

[bravekozak]

Remove the negative battery terminal and the bolts anchoring it to the body and engine. It is time to do the silver anniversary wire wheel cleanup.

Reinstall after cleaning all the terminals and report back.

[jbrown]

After done with that smack the main electrical relay by the coolant reservoir make sure that it is grounded good. Then dialectric grease all your connections. If your check engine light is not on the ECU is not getting power. If I'm right. I bet you when it comes on it sparks.

[bravekozak]

jbrown is right. Don't stop. Dremel wire wheel all of the fusible lnk terminals. You have to push down the tabby wabbies to release the terminals. The middle spade does not have a tabby wabby.
Be sure to do it again in another 25 years from now. That's if the the world as we know it is still here.

[jbrown]

Or replace it with a universal cartridge fuse panel. Luckily the ignition circuit is pretty simple. Unfortunately they have old worn wires! I'll find the chilton tests and post them on here.