Hi, I'm helping a friend fix her car. It's an 89 escort. I know of no escort forum where anyone can actually give helpful information. I can only imagine the things the escort performance clubs would suggest. I have been around for a while, so it's not like I'm just using this forum for non-mustang things. I beg moderators to allow this post.
Anyways, here goes. It's an 89 escort with a 1.9L and throttle body injection. The car was said to be running poorly for about a year and a half before the other day when it just wouldn't start. The engine cranks over fine, which means the starter and the battery are okay. There are no obstructions to air, and the single fuel injector in the throttle body squirts fuel just fine at startup. So it has air and fuel, it just needs spark.
I started with the basics. The car had the original spark plugs, wires, pretty much everything. I replaced the spark plugs and and wires as well as the distributer cap and rotor. The car still won't start. This leads me to believe it is some sort of ignition relay.
I can't quite remember the name of it, but for any of you mechanics out there, the distributer has a 5th wire which goes to what I believe is called a coil or ignition module. My 5.0 mustang has the same thing. It's the thing that sends the electricity to the rotor in the distributer which allows the spark plugs to fire. Is it possible that this is what is failing? I can't think of anything else, either it is this or an ignition relay. Someone suggested I check the prong on the ignition module with a voltmeter. If I test it, should it be running a constant voltage or intermittent? I would assume constant. If so, what kind of voltage should it be seeing?
Also, does anyone know of any websites that would have to fuse box layout of this car? I need to know which relays are which. I checked all the fuses, however, and they are fine.
Could any of you mechanics give me a suggestion? Is there any way to test if the spark plugs are firing other than sticking my finger on the end of the wire?
PS: If it helps any, the original spark plugs were the proper brownish color, which means it was running a good A/F ratio.
Thanks!
Anyways, here goes. It's an 89 escort with a 1.9L and throttle body injection. The car was said to be running poorly for about a year and a half before the other day when it just wouldn't start. The engine cranks over fine, which means the starter and the battery are okay. There are no obstructions to air, and the single fuel injector in the throttle body squirts fuel just fine at startup. So it has air and fuel, it just needs spark.
I started with the basics. The car had the original spark plugs, wires, pretty much everything. I replaced the spark plugs and and wires as well as the distributer cap and rotor. The car still won't start. This leads me to believe it is some sort of ignition relay.
I can't quite remember the name of it, but for any of you mechanics out there, the distributer has a 5th wire which goes to what I believe is called a coil or ignition module. My 5.0 mustang has the same thing. It's the thing that sends the electricity to the rotor in the distributer which allows the spark plugs to fire. Is it possible that this is what is failing? I can't think of anything else, either it is this or an ignition relay. Someone suggested I check the prong on the ignition module with a voltmeter. If I test it, should it be running a constant voltage or intermittent? I would assume constant. If so, what kind of voltage should it be seeing?
Also, does anyone know of any websites that would have to fuse box layout of this car? I need to know which relays are which. I checked all the fuses, however, and they are fine.
Could any of you mechanics give me a suggestion? Is there any way to test if the spark plugs are firing other than sticking my finger on the end of the wire?
PS: If it helps any, the original spark plugs were the proper brownish color, which means it was running a good A/F ratio.
Thanks!