Ok, so it's not the timing belt, however...

[Vance]

Knowing that the belt could have jumped, this may not be entirely true.

Here's some fabric for the story of how the car became the way it is.

The previous owner was driving home from school on night last November. Her drive it like 60 miles each way. About halfway, the Festiva bucked once, she says she heard a loud 'pop' and then it just quit. That's it.

I got the car this past weekend and have looked at it a little. Knowing very little about these little cars I'm here for more help.

What else off the top of your collective heads could it be? I plan on running a compression test for it this weekend. What should I be looking for? I pulled and checked the plugs and they look OK and the gap was right.

Thanks,
Vance

[Vance]

26 views and no ideas or opinions. Wow.

[FB71]

its not that we don't have any idea, we just have too many. There's too many variables in your scenario, we'd need you to do more investigation and post those results first. There's a lot of things I could guess at, but that would take up 2 or 3 pages......

[aithanmier]

check the timing, check the alternator, check the distributor, check all the fusible links, make sure your getting juice to the starter, if all else fails, pull the block and check for a thrown rod, cracked crank etc... hey it didn't even take 2 pages Jim! rotflmao

[Vance]

The motor turns over fine - Starter ruled out.
The rotor turns in time with the turning motor, (starter power) and everything in the dist. checks out good - Distributor ruled out, for now & starter ruled out again.
Gas is getting to the carb ok - Fuel delivery ruled out, for now.
I never mentioned anything about a charging issue - Alternator ruled out.
Timing belt 'looks' ok, even new. I need to remove cover entirely to see if it jumped teeth - Timing belt almost ruled out.
Compression numbers will b posted later today for those willing to help.
Plugs were black, but no the worst I've seen compared to other motors still running.

The fact that the car died the way it did confuses me, From initial post - The previous owner was driving home from school one night last November. Her drive it like 60 miles each way. About halfway home doing about 60 mph, the Festiva bucked once and she said she heard a loud 'pop' and then it just quit. That's it.

Does any of this help?

Vance

[Festy46]

A loud "pop" indicates an igniition problem if the car was warmed up. Pull the coil wire out of the center of the distributor cap and hold the metal tip of the wire close to the engine block with a pair of insulated pliers made for handling high voltage. Crank the engine and see if you see a spark jump. If no spark pull the distributor cap and crank the engine and see if the rotor on the distributor turns. If it is turning, my guess is the ignition module in the distributor is bad.

Like Jim said, we could write a book on guesses from your discription. Do the above test and post your results and we can narrow it down from there.
John

[aithanmier]

i would still bet that it's a timing belt that's off. first thing i would do is bite the bullet and check it already. it's not that tough. double check all the vacuum lines, one of mine came off when i did the swap and omg was it a bear to figure out. but the car wouldn't run. was the car overheating or anything else? hell it almost sounds like what my 89 did when i blew a coolant bypass hose and blew the engine.it would still crank, but wouldn't start and oh yeah it made one heck of a pop!

[Vance]

Problem solved. Fuel system was at fault.

Thanks for the help. Something tells me I'll be back with more questions later. I know I need to look for the thread regarding a bouncing speedo needle. Once out on the road, that little monster reared its ugly head.

Vance