DEAR GOD IT DIED WHILE I WAS DRIVING

[D3toxx101]

So i have a tidy 1990 Festiva and i had just left the house the other day while driving the engine just died no odd sounds nothing. after getting a mate to tow me home i started looking for the problem on turning the key the car turns over. i have checked the carb to make sure gas is getting through and it is the float valve reservoir was chocker so i thought it may just be flooding or the needle valve may be stuck so have pulled it apart and cleaned out a small amount of gunk from here put it all back together and still no go. next i checked the cam belt and timing could be off as when i checked the exhaust it was sucking and blowing so i opened the cam covers and checked for the timing marks and this is where i struck my first problem as instead of a yellow and white mark there is only a white one still i lined this up with the marked T on the scale popped the first sparky out and stuck a driver in to see if the piston was in position and it seems to be. when cranked over the cam belt sprocket at the top has a odd wobble to it(not sure this is a problem but pulled the rocker cover off to check that the thing hadn't shorn off) my mate thinks its not getting compression which is why it is sucking from the exhaust. please someone help as i live out of town and cannot get to where i need to be until i have a working car again.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give

[bravekozak]

It would have sputtered if it was out of gas. Check for spark. Make sure your coil + ignition module in your distributor is fine.

[drddan]

^ I agree with brave. It dieing like you described, made me think the ignition module inside the distributor

[D3toxx101]

yep definitely have spark and all spark plugs are firing(will replace soon anyway as a bit grimey) will go check under the dizzy cap now

[Icedawg]

as when i checked the exhaust it was sucking and blowing

I don't really understand what you are saying here, but it seems pretty unusual. I had an engine with a blown head gasket that blew air out the intake as it turned over, instead of creating vacuum. You should not be getting vacuum at the exhaust, unless the valve timing is way off or the cylinders are not sealed. Check for vacuum when cranking.

[D3toxx101]

so i have found that the alignment pin on the end of the crank has sheered off and the sprocket is damaged from this so that would cause the valve timing to be off so am now hunting down a new pin and sprocket

[Advancedynamix]

Did it foul the end of the crankshaft? That's a short nosed crank (pre 1992) and they are sort of known for that failure. I've got the parts you need here, if you can't find them on your side of the world. I'm not sure what the postage would be.

[D3toxx101]

Did it foul the end of the crankshaft? That's a short nosed crank (pre 1992) and they are sort of known for that failure. I've got the parts you need here, if you can't find them on your side of the world. I'm not sure what the postage would be.

crankshaft is ok and thanks but if i cant find the parts locally it may be all over for lil red ill post some pics tho tomorrow so ya can see whats happens

[mofunone]

So on trip on i40 is headed west at Williams Arizona and his car died. Anyone in that area that knows anything about these. 1992 ford festiva. died while travelling south from the southrim of the grand canyon. He is in hotel in Williams.
Car dies. He has fire all the way to the plug. distributor s turning, has had new timing belt 2000 miles ago from mechanic. new head and gasket 2000 miles ago. Lookin like im gonna have to go after him this afternoon. He can hear the fuel pump humhe believes. it just died while passing a car. he thought the coil wire came off and he thinks he cranked on it a good bit with it off. I thought he flooded it .. any info appreciated, . thanks

[TominMO]

So on trip on i40 is headed west at Williams Arizona and his car died. Anyone in that area that knows anything about these. 1992 ford festiva. died while travelling south from the southrim of the grand canyon. He is in hotel in Williams.
Car dies. He has fire all the way to the plug. distributor s turning, has had new timing belt 2000 miles ago from mechanic. new head and gasket 2000 miles ago. Lookin like im gonna have to go after him this afternoon. He can hear the fuel pump humhe believes. it just died while passing a car. he thought the coil wire came off and he thinks he cranked on it a good bit with it off. I thought he flooded it .. any info appreciated, . thanks

Welcome to the forum. You should start your own thread, not hijack this guy's. Things get confusing when we are talking about two different cars in the same thread. Just copy and paste what you already wrote into a new thread.