97 Metro turns over, but it won't catch

[beararms]

I already looked through the other posts and I couldn't find a similar problem, so don't start with me. My 97 Metro has about 99K on it and on Christmas Eve it died on me. I was doing 35mph and suddenly, inside of 8 seconds, it lost power. No, not like sputtering, outta gas thing, more like, where'd my alternator disappear to?

It's getting spark, it's getting fuel and it has compression in all three cylinders.
I have two fathers-in-law that are telling me what to do, but so far, they haven't helped. Thanks to them, I've replaced the spark plugs, cap & rotor, air & fuel filter and the battery. The timing belt is intact. Now, they want me to replace the module under the distributer cap. There should've been a camera on my face as I unscrewed the "module" and held it up to the light so I could read "DON'T REMOVE" on it. AAauggghhhh!!!!!

I don't want to replace this for $35 - $170 and still not work, but I need to get this car going. I commute ~450 miles a week and (for all those "Geos suck," 16-year-olds) I'm getting tired of spending so much gas money driving the Chevy Tahoe or IROC-Z and even though the bus is cheap, it makes for 12-hour days.

[roper1]

i have a 97 geo 4 cyl when you look at the coil against the firewall look to the right and you may have at least on mine a square plug it has 2 screws 1 top and 1 down phillips head its a ignition module i got another one for mine and the car started and ran try that and the usual check all the fuses under the dash and hood like you i drive mine about the same mileage per week good luck!

[xylene]

If you have spark, it is not likely to be the distributor module.

I assume you have checked all of your fuses?

It could be the fuel pump fuse or relay have gone bad.

Your model has a fuel injector, so that too might be your next port of call.

Emissions control, while straightforward on GEO is another area of concern, but you seem to have ruled out ignitions problems, so if it is not a straight forward thing you may need a diagnostics tool.

[beararms]

Well, I finally gave up and had AAA tow it to a Big-O Tires. They charged me $70 to diagnose the problem. They had to order a $70 ignition coil and a $300 ignition module. After they add the labor, it'll cost me $670. Add the $100 I already put into it and it's $770 to get my Metro back on the road . . . and the heater fan still needs to be repaired.

I think I'll be looking for a new car in a few months.