Loss of power, check engine and shift light, won't start. New to Forum.

[gage1371]

So, driving home from work this morning, after allowing car to heat up, I experienced a complete loss of power after 10 minutes of driving. Temps were regular, oil good, antifreeze good, no leaks, and was shifting normally. (first thought it may be transmission but then engine died). Car had ran a little hot after 5 minutes of driving but temp regulated itself out (it does this every time I drive it). Checked intake and carb to make sure nothing was clogged and all appeared fine. Engine would not spark but would roll over so I'm thinking maybe just an ignition issue? Put a little bit of gas in carb and tried starting it, but nothing. This is my first Festiva that I purchased as a gas saver to keep miles off my CTS-V so I'm new to these but i love the car. Any common problems along these lines? Any help would be appreciated. Going to poke around on car now so I'll get back on here as soon as possible. Thank you so much!
-Gage
Athens, TN

[TominMO]

Year, manual or auto? Need details.

[gage1371]

1989 and manual

[dalebwilson]

Check your 3 fusible links for power on both sides. Located on the drivers side strut tower. Also make sure your timing belt did not break.

[TominMO]

After testing the three fuses for continuity (and look at the Engine fuse inside the car), and the timing belt, then check for spark to the distributor. Yes means check the disty itself for spark to the plugs; no spark to the disty means it's in the coil area. Not sure what the electronics look like at the coil.

[WmWatt]

mentioned this in other post recently: to check current from coil remove distributor end of ignition wire to coil, pull back rubber cup on wire to expose connector, wire to bolt on top of strut tower with 1/4" or so gap, get in car, turn over engine, watch through gap at bottom of hood for spark between wire and bolt. shows exsitence of spark but not strength. yellow spark may be weak. blue spark is strong.

loss of spark after engine warms up may be ignition module in distributor. a sign of deterioration in aging module is internmittent stalling when they get warm. sometimes you can wait until they cool off and engine will start and run again.

[gage1371]

Got to look at the car today and determined it was the Ignition Control Module. Was getting current out of coil and all fuse linkages had good current and, also, was getting fuel just no spark. It needs a tune up anyways so I'm gonna replace plugs, wires, ICM, distributor cap, and ignition coil when the parts get here. It was a miracle that thing even ran as much gap as there was in the plugs and how much corrosion was in the distributor cap. Thank you all for the help and I'll post on here after replacing everything to let y'all know if that fixes it next week when I get a day off to work on it.