1G A new (old) dsm having problems, won't start

[Munkee]

I just picked up a 90 eclipse 1.8 as a beater. When i picked it up it was running fine. Drove it home, drove it to work a few times. Today on my way home it just cut out and died. Had it towed home and was checking it out. I checked for spark by pulling a plug and connecting it to one of the wires and had somone crank the car. Noticed that there was no spark while cranking, but when you stop cranking it does give of a single spark. Any ideas what this could be?

 

[luv2rallye]

Did you hold the plug casing against the block?

 

[SHaman]

It needs a ground to connect the circuit. Any idea on fuel? Have you done the maintenence stuff yet?

 

[DSM1G90]

If it's a beater and never has been maintained, bet the belt took a timing jump (which threw off the timing) - in which with that motor, being there is no harm is done, the 1.8L is a non-interference motor.

 

[RLPerformance]

Get a fuel pressure tester and make sure you have 43.5 psi of fuel pressure. Make sure the plug is touching a good known ground when cranking the car over. Pull the timing cover, align the marks and make sure its right.

 

[Munkee]

Yes held the plug casing against the block. Just got done checking the fuel system. Pressure on the line is there, no pulse on the injectors. It was suggested that it may be the CAS that went out which I'm starting to lean towards. Looks like I'm looking at a new distributor.

I honestly don't know how the maintenance was on it before i got it. The engine seemed solid and ran fine when I tested it out. I've only had it about a week so haven't had a chance to do any maintenance to it myself, as I needed to start driving it right away for work. I guess i can double check the timing but I'm still leaning towards the CAS.

Thanks for the help.

Thanks for directing me to that site btw. found another thread where another guy had a similar issue. He went as far as replacing the dist also and still no go. He ended up replacing his ECU. Just to cover my bases I pulled the ECU and opened her up. Looks clean inside. No blown caps, solder breaks, or shorts as far as i can tell. Guess I'll stick w/ the CAS idea and start looking for a new dist. Thanks again.

 

[Moodster205]

I have had that same problem with the 1.8L that i have owned. I found out that it was the ecu. I had fuel pressure and I had no spark. Just something that you could look into

 

[DSM1G90]

Could be a simple thing as the connection cables running to the DIST could have an open somewhere, or just needs to be cleaned some and reseated to the DIST.

Or, the carbon button that rides on the rotor could have gone. check that area and might need a new cap and rotor.

I have a '91 with a 1.8 with 198K on it (was my daughter's and she gave it back to me -- good little town running vehicle with an auto..) and I did a cap and rotor to that one since the carbon button broke on it just from age.

 

[captin curt]

have you checked your coil from the harness and made sure it is getting a pulse. and if you have a hand book there is a diagram on how to test your ecu.