Crusing and suddenly dies

[ReidU]

92 Laser 1.8. 613,000 miles. Bought it new. Engine Change at 550K.

Running along great at 70 miles and hour. No warning or nothing. it dies. I initially thought the timing belt broke but not the case. Wrecked home.

here is what I have so far.
* getting spark to all 4 cylinders
* getting fuel to the rail, but have not checked pressure. Good flow with line removed from rail in the start position.
* Tried starting fluid in thottle body with plate wide open with no spark.
* All fuses good.

After reading the posts I am thinking I have a Cam Sensor Bad but my manual says it is built in the distributor. Looking for how to check it and any information to get her going.

All help would be appreciated. I am trying to get a million miles out of this one.

 

[Slid3RMonk3y]

Hey Reid,

I see you need some info so i snagged these for you, hope they can help you out to get your car back up and running for that million mile goal.

Let me know how it goes,
Sam

 

[ReidU]

Sam, I appreciate the response and thank you for sending the files. For some reason the files will not open in Adobe.

 

[DSM1G90]

Prob knocked out the MPI fuse if you got spark.

Now, congrats on a DSM with that many miles, but wonder if you still have the original ECU in operation, and if so, it prob died on you for my Laser did the same also - had everything but no go - ECU went "Kapooie", thus got a reman and was back on the road again.

EDIT: looked into getting a new Dist cap and rotor?

Now, you also mention on thinking of a busted belt, but a slipped belt (which a busted balance belt can easily knock the belt off the crank sprocket, killing the timing real quick, and be thankful that the 4G37 is a non-interference motor) can also render a motor unrunnable since it definitely throws the timing off, and with a 4G37 (1.8L) it's an easy check:

Roll the crank to TDC, pull the cap off and see where the rotor is pointing to related to No. 1 sparkplug on the cap. If the point is at No. 4 you need to roll the crank one full turn to get the point to No.1

If the belt didn't slip, the rotor's point should be just past No.1 being that your dist has been rotated for your 5* BTDC

Good luck - DSM

 

[ReidU]

DSM, thank you for the info.

MOU fuse is good. ECU was replaced at 300k. Another note when it died I was pulling 4500 RPM. I have always ran this car hard and I always Amici Gold

I was going to run a compression check tonite. She sounds strange cranking over like it may have jimped time. The compression check would show low compression across the boatd I think if timing slipped.

I hoping we dont have big problems on the engine with such low mileage.

Just did compression check. 160 all the way across with plate wide open.

Anyone know if a 94 1.8 ECU will work in a 92. I got a spare car.

 

[ReidU]

I am totally lost on this one.

So I replaced the ECU with a know good unit still no go.

Here is what I have so far.

* Compression 160 on all 4 cylinders, Another post said if I jumped timing this would show very very low on all 4 so I am assuming timing is close.
* Valves are moving.
* CHeck engine light comes on for 5 seconds and goes out when key is turned to ignition.
* Do not have a check engine light.
* Fire to all 4 spark plugs although I do not know if the sequence and time is good.
* Fuel to fuel rail checked by removing line from rail and going to start. Good flow have not checked pressure.
* Will not fire with starting fluid down throttle body with plate wide open nor by starting fluid in all four cylinders.
* MFI fuse good.

This car totally died when I was downshifting from 4th to third turning some pretty high RPMs. When I slowed down and pressed the accelerator it did nothing. Dead.

Motor only has 60K miles on it.

Need the expert opinons if anyone out there has any ideas what to done next. I have a 94 model with a blown engine that I can borrow parts from. I am thinking the distributor is the next thing. My thinking is it may be a bad crank or cam sensor. Ideas please.

Thanks for any help that comes my way.

 

[ReidU]

Solved. 58200 miles on this engine from performance products. JUNK! The timing belt shed most of its teeth. Did not break. Drove me nuts figuring this out. They will hear from me tommorow!

 

[pauleyman]

The recommended interval is 60k. Doubt anybody will help you. Replace the belt and go on down the road.