Trying to help a friend

An eldery friend of mine has been having a problem with his 92 Escort, and I would like to help him out if I can. It's a wagon, and it sits outside for 6 months during the cold N.Y. winters. The car is standard shift too. The car will start when cold, but after warming up, like a trip to the store, when trying to restart, it won't fire. There is no spark to the plugs! Upon sitting for some time, then it might start. It doesn't always do this, just sometimes. I've pulled the condenser wire off along side the distributor as well as the main wiring plug to the distributor to see if there was any corrosion, but everything looked fine. Can these electronic ignition units be removed inspected and cleaned, or are they a sealed unit? Other than replacing what appears to be the ignition coil/distributor, is there any other item that might cause this intermittent problem? :screwy: Thanks, my friend will appreciate any help.
Tom

Does this engine have a distributor that is directly driven by the camshaft? I can't keep up with the different model years.

If so, it usually has the TFI module mounted to the distributor side. These things have a fairly high failure rate ... as does the "pick -up" inside the distributor.

Forget opening and repairing the inside of the TFI ... but, just for luck; you might remove, clean the base and remount in a bed of fresh pure di-electric grease. It must be totally non-conductive ... and you can buy a tube of this special stuff at most parts stores.

You might check to see if AutoZone can test the distributor (or the TFI) ... I'm not sure.

If you look in the maintenance section of AutoZone.com, you will problably find some useful stuff on this model.

BTW, have you scanned for codes?

As far as I can tell, there is no connection to the camshaft. On the right side of the rocker cover is a bracket. Mounted on this bracket is a black unit about 4" square and 1" thick, held down by four screws. The 4 wires from the spark plugs connect to this unit. On the right hand side of this unit is a an electrical connector containing maybe 6-8 multi colored wires, which run into a harness and then go someplace. Don't ask me how it works, but somehow it does. By feeling under the bracket, it feels like there is a hole in the bracket and a part of this black unit hangs into the hole. If that's any help! Nothing has been scanned, but there is no check engine light or the like, indicated on the dash. Being that I know nothing about electronic ignition, I'm only guessing that 12 volts is supplied to this thingy and the voltage is boosted up. Then the computer determines what plug fires, so this thingy can send the voltage to that plug. Am I in the ball park on this? Right or Wrong?
Tom

There isnt a distributer on that car.. Just a coil pack thing... I'd replace that.

I'm glad you're trying to help your friend ...

See if this will help:

http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?ForwardPage=/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/15/62/02/0900823d80156202.jsp

Thanks for the help guy's. The autozone site gave me insite as to how the system works, now it's just a matter of determining which component is the culprit.:banghead: The engine never stops once it's running. It just doesn't have spark when the engine is hot and you try to restart it. What's your best guess as to what part is acting up????:dunno:

Make sure you read the pages on the AutoZone site for "testing". Do the test when it's hot and won't run.

This is characteristic of a bad coil.

This is characteristic of a bad coil.
See, like I said.

I agree with the bad coil! You may also want to change plugs and wires if it sits that long in the winter time. The wires could be cracked or bad and that is what caused the coil to go bad in the first place.

Thanks to everyone for their input, I'll check out the coil this weekend.

Thanks to everyone for their input, I'll check out the coil this weekend.
maybe a crank sensor

:screwy: Well, I checked out the ignition coil as per Auto Zone's testing instructions. They said an ohm reading must be greater than .4 otherwise the coil is failing. My reading came out to between .3 and .4 ohms. Got a new coil, ohmed the new one and it had a reading of .7-.8 ohms.OK, problem solved, NOT!!! Installed the coil and the car would not start. After several attempts, it finally started. Now just the opposite is occurring. When the car is hot, it will start every time. When it's cold, it starts when it wants. First of all, I had the wrong year. It's a 93 not a 92, if that makes any difference. I tried checking the crank sensor as Auto Zone suggested, but I couldn't get any jumpers small enough to fit into the small recesses of the electrical plug. Plus the harness is very short. Any other suggestions as to a better way to check the crank sensor, or what else might be causing these problems. Thanks

Got any idea how old the fuel filter is?

Nope, but that wouldn't keep it from having spark. Read the above posts and see what has occurred previously.Thanks anyway

Follow through with the crank sensor as someone else suggested... a faulty sensor (or an unplugged one) will prevent a spark. There are only two screws holding it... take it off to test it if you have to... or just replace it... I doubt it costs much.

According to the info I have, your suppose to put jumper wires from the sensor pins to the plug connectors, restart the engine and obtain an A/C voltage reading across the sensor. Is there another way to test it without it running? If the sensor is any more than an inch long, the complete intake manifold will have to be removed in order to get it out. I'd hate to have studs start breaking off. Man, I hate to keep changing parts until something works. It's not my nature, but if that's the only way to make a diagnoses on these modern cars, I guess I'll have to change my ways. Thanks :newburn:

You are describing the cam sensor.
The crank sensor is on the front of the engine to the left of the pulleys.
The car will run without a cam sensor... won't run without the crank sensor.

Oops!