1988 no spark

Have an '88 with 1.9L, while driving about 45mph, she just died cold. Hasn't run since. Getting fuel fine. Throttle body type fuel injection. Found a no spark condition. No spark even from coil to dist cap. All other electrical stuff works fine, (starter, fuel pump, dash lights with key on, etc.) I'm no electronics expert, but my brother and I went through the testing procedures in the manual and the coil seemed to check out ok. We pulled the dist. and did the tests on the ignition module, and that also seemed ok. Started doing the wiring harness to distributor tests and found the testing of the #2 terminal only had 4.4 volts where it should have had battery voltage. The other two wires tested produced battery voltage. We tried cutting that wire and applying a straight 12 volts from the battery but that didn't do it either, still no spark. We had left the other end of the wire we had cut 'open' (in other words, we didn't TEE in 12 volts. Don't know if this was the correct way to do it or not. Book says that it's possible that this lower voltage on one wire to the dist. could be caused by a faulty ignition switch, so was trying to figure out how to bypass the ignition switch. That's why I ran the 12v to that wire going to the dist. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Have an '88 with 1.9L, while driving about 45mph, she just died cold. Hasn't run since. Getting fuel fine. Throttle body type fuel injection. Found a no spark condition. No spark even from coil to dist cap. All other electrical stuff works fine, (starter, fuel pump, dash lights with key on, etc.) I'm no electronics expert, but my brother and I went through the testing procedures in the manual and the coil seemed to check out ok. We pulled the dist. and did the tests on the ignition module, and that also seemed ok. Started doing the wiring harness to distributor tests and found the testing of the #2 terminal only had 4.4 volts where it should have had battery voltage. The other two wires tested produced battery voltage. We tried cutting that wire and applying a straight 12 volts from the battery but that didn't do it either, still no spark. We had left the other end of the wire we had cut 'open' (in other words, we didn't TEE in 12 volts. Don't know if this was the correct way to do it or not. Book says that it's possible that this lower voltage on one wire to the dist. could be caused by a faulty ignition switch, so was trying to figure out how to bypass the ignition switch. That's why I ran the 12v to that wire going to the dist. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

stupid question did you check your timing belt?

Thanks for the replies, folks.
Timing belt wouldn't cause a no spark, would it?
I will check on the wiring links also. Have been away from the computer for a while and won't be able to get back on for awhile. Thanks again.
Kid

Thanks for the replies, folks.
Timing belt wouldn't cause a no spark, would it?
I will check on the wiring links also. Have been away from the computer for a while and won't be able to get back on for awhile. Thanks again.
Kid

yes it would expecally if you have distribitor. you could take the cap off and crank the motor if the rotor isnt turning then you wont have spark and that points to your timing belt (again if the rotor isnt tturning while cranking)

Rotor DOES turn while cranking the motor.

I am away from the car now, but will let my brother know about these posts to help us find the problem.

Thanks,
Kid

I had the same problem years ago with my 88 EXP
ended up losing the fuel pump too I replaced everything as far as the ignition system i began looking at the computer could not afford a new one and the junk yard did not have the correct one, sorry to say i never got to drive it again :disappoin Check The Computer it is not easy to get out but it can be done Good Luck!!

thanks 88Regal
Hope we have better luck than you did
Kid

Hey Lawton_kid,
did you ever solve the problem with your escort because my car has almost the identical problem , if you did can you please reply and give me some help in repairing my 88 escort. Thanks

Sorry Ehrlich,
my brother hasn't checked into it any farther and she's still sittin'. I haven't been back there to help him with it either. He is 600 miles away, so......
Kid

A buddy of mine had an '88 and the ignition switch went bad. He had to wiggle the keys around to get it to keep running. He had more keys than a jailer so I think all the extra weight wore something out. If you have 12 volts going to the coil then this would NOT be the problem.

Thanks for the tip, AZT

What about a fusible link? Those things are common for burning out. All they are is a smaller gauge wire in the line of two larger ones. You can recognize them by the heatshrink tubing around them. Check the schematics for where they might be. They can still work, but be resistive, which is why they're a pain.

Thanks Cow,
I'm just heading back up there tomorrow, so will see if we have any luck with it.

Reply back. I want to know how it goes.

I'm not sure about your year car but my 1990 has the infamous TFI module located on the distributor. The TFI module could cause a no spark condition.
Have an '88 with 1.9L, while driving about 45mph, she just died cold. Hasn't run since. Getting fuel fine. Throttle body type fuel injection. Found a no spark condition. No spark even from coil to dist cap. All other electrical stuff works fine, (starter, fuel pump, dash lights with key on, etc.) I'm no electronics expert, but my brother and I went through the testing procedures in the manual and the coil seemed to check out ok. We pulled the dist. and did the tests on the ignition module, and that also seemed ok. Started doing the wiring harness to distributor tests and found the testing of the #2 terminal only had 4.4 volts where it should have had battery voltage. The other two wires tested produced battery voltage. We tried cutting that wire and applying a straight 12 volts from the battery but that didn't do it either, still no spark. We had left the other end of the wire we had cut 'open' (in other words, we didn't TEE in 12 volts. Don't know if this was the correct way to do it or not. Book says that it's possible that this lower voltage on one wire to the dist. could be caused by a faulty ignition switch, so was trying to figure out how to bypass the ignition switch. That's why I ran the 12v to that wire going to the dist. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I'm not sure about your year car but my 1990 has the infamous TFI module located on the distributor. The TFI module could cause a no spark condition.
all you have to do to see if the timing belt is broke is remove the oil cap have your brother crank the engine while you look inside the valve cover, if nothing is moving, then the belt is broke. If that is ok, I would be looking at the TFI. Good luck.

All Tempos had the TFI module, and I've never had a problem with any of them, ever. My Tempo was a '91 with 255k miles on it, and it didn't have a single electronic issue. Granted it had all original parts, and the timing was off due to the timing chain being stretched, but whatever, I got 51 mpg out of it cruising 75, and it'd smoke the tires. Didn't burn a drop of oil, though. Sadly that car is no more after flipping it end over end at 70mph last year.

Thanks fellas,
It will probably be 3 weeks by the time I get back from there and get back on the computer.
Kid

Um, his car has a timing chain. Tempos never, ever had a belt.