93 Mx-3

[Mr.TG]

It's my daughters car ,she drove it to work and after work it would not start. Could not figure it out so we towed it home. The first thing I checked was the fuel pump because when you turn the key to the on position I did not hear the electric motor start up. Figured that was it,wrong. I removed the fuel lines at the pump and decided to try the key to the on position and nothing happened, but soon as I tried to start the engine gas was flowing out of the pump. So of all my cars, this is the only car that does not turn the fuel pump on when you turn the key to the on position prior to cranking the motor.Anyways took the fuel line off at the fuel injector rails to make sure the flow made it there,yes it did. Okay,now check for spark.Took coil wire from distributor cap,no spark. Checked coil with Chilton procedures and it checks out. So why didn't I get a spark out the end of the wire when turning it over. Now it basically says if coil checks out go to pick-up coil.Sorry for the long-short of the story,but this is where I'm at now .Sorry it's a 4 cylinder 1.6 litre automatic.

[mx3man]

If you're not getting any spark from any of the wires it is probably the Disty itself. CHeck to see if the timing belt is still there If it busted, that would explain it.

But I would be less suprised if it was the disty, they tend to be a soft spot for these cars :S

EDIT: ok I realize this is an older post, I hope you figured it out by now. Sorry i couldnt help earlier.

[Mr.TG]

Originally Posted by mx3man

If you're not getting any spark from any of the wires it is probably the Disty itself. CHeck to see if the timing belt is still there If it busted, that would explain it.

But I would be less suprised if it was the disty, they tend to be a soft spot for these cars :S

EDIT: ok I realize this is an older post, I hope you figured it out by now. Sorry i couldnt help earlier.

Thanks for the feed back. In my quest for answers the distributer did come up as a problematic part-and not cheap either. As far as her car goes.after unplugging connectors and checking it three times over a week,it fired up - why ? electrical wires and connectors are fine. Go figure, don't trust it now. Car does not leave the city now till we figure out what gremlin caused it not to spark in the first place.

[mx3man]

O.o Interesting.

before paying 300$+ for a brand new disty from the dealer, check out eBay and more importantly ceck forums for used ones. There are A LOT of people parting out their cars and they can be had for cheap (I have parted out a total of 3 MX3's myself, and sold all three disty's for under 80$ each).

These two are a good start:

http://www.mx-3.com
http://www.mx-3quebec.com/Forum (it is french, but make a post in english and you'll be ok.. they understand english)

It could just be dirty contacts on the disty, pull off the rotor cap and see if the metal conductors are corroded/worn.

Hope you figure it out!