[GTkim]

This thread helped me solve my 96 villager problem so I decided to share my experience and say thanks. First what happened: While driving the car completely shutdown – troubleshooting revealed that the screw holding the distributor rotor to the shaft had worked its way out. By just plain luck I found this during roadside troubleshooting and replaced the screw and was back on the road only to have the car misfire/not fire on all cylinders especially under acceleration. Ok, the car had not had a tune-up in over 4 years. The spark plugs were platinum but had approximately 100K miles on them. So I figured a tune-up was a good start. Cap, rotor, plugs, wires were replaced and the problem was still there. My timing light indicated that number 4 cylinder was not firing correctly. Then it was number 6 not firing right and number 4 cylinder looked good. I tried the power transistor. BTW the guy at the auto parts store looks at you like you have two heads if you ask for a power transistor. My manual calls it a power transistor but it is an ignition module to them. Tip: AutoZone tests these for free and has a reasonable replacement price ($70). Make sure you have them test the new one before you leave the store. It will give you something to compare against and validate the tester/test procedure. The test they performed told me that the power transistor was not the problem. I should have realized this. If it was the power transistor I would expect all cylinders would be misfiring/not firing. After reading this thread, I bought a can contact cleaner, removed the plate under the rotor (2 screws), and gave the sensor and the position plate a good hosing with the contact cleaner. I then used a can of compressed air to remove the any excess cleaner. That stuff is explosive and can collect below the plate. I could easily see the first spark launching the cap if any cleaner remained. Bottom line is the car runs great now. Thanks to everyone who has posted here and god bless the internet.