Need help with escort, no where else to turn to

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!

ImportEater98 said:

not sure about fuse locations, etc. I can tell you an old backyard mechanic trick. Pull spark plug boots (one at a time!) of, stick a screw driver in the end of the wire boot, and rest it on something metal (i.e., Intake Manifold). If you are getting spark you will get a good spark when the screwdriver is hitting the manifold. If you arent getting spark....work your way back from there. Did you change the cap and rotor yet? Thats usually the first thing to change that can gradually make the car run bad, then ultimately prevent it from running.
Good Luck
-John

Click to expand...

Yeah, I changed the cap and rotor. So I guess to do this screwdriver trick I would have to have someone cranking the engine, right? I really want to test the ignition module. Could I possibly put a spark plug wire on that (the prong is the same as a distributer prong) and do the same trick? Would the engine have to be cranking to do that too?

Thanks for the response!

If the timing belt has broken, wouldn't it cause the rotor to not spin?