No Spark, coil or ecu?

[Vap0rXT]

Thanks for taking your time reading my post.

My problem started a week or so ago:
Went to my car after work and tried to start it and I got a few seconds of idle then it died. Tried a few more times with no luck, final try I got it running and with a horrible idle. I relplaced a belt 5 months ago or so and It was squeeking occasionally and thought maybe something wasnt being driven right by the belt, belt tightened and it finally went back to normal and lasted for a week or so. Until tonight I had the same issue. My brother tried to jump the plug with a screwdriver to see if I was getting any spark, nada no spark. Has anyone had this issue or any suggestions would be welcome. My first attempt would be the coil, good idea?
Thanks

Glenn R.

[ned032002]

Originally Posted by Vap0rXT

My first attempt would be the coil, good idea?

Well first of all Welcome to AF read all the threads you can tolerate and search before you post a thread, k. Just some advice we all had to take in.

Ok you are on the right track in assuming that the coil pack is bad, also you should change the Wires and plugs because the wires may be bad but while your in there you might as well change the plugs too. Also you should check the battery just incase that is the actual culprite. Which belt sqeeeled?

[91 Eclipse]

Welcome To Af

[Vap0rXT]

Thanks for the welcoming.

Interesting thing is today about 3pm, I got dropped off at my work and started the car up like nothing ever happened. I randomly started it through the night to keep it fairly warm and it got me to the grocery store and home like nothing ever happened. I'm starting to think its moisture related since it was fine today and was fairly dry. The belt that I replaced is the front uppermost belt, I believe its the main belt. I also think this is the one squeaking, although when the car is warm its quiet. I'll be replacing the plugs, wires and coil within the next few days. 80 dollars for the coil at autozone. Although I'm sure its quite a bit more for the ecu so I suppose it cant hurt to replace the others first and see what happens. Any other suggestions welcome.

Thanks,
Glenn

[EvoZero]

When you check your plug wires, clean out the coil thoroughly. Could be that some dirt or a dead bug or something was causing an arc. If you leave the dirt or whatever it was there, it could happen again later. Probably when it will be least convenient for you.

[hellah fresh]

its not the coils man... its the ECU. My car didnt start before because of a bad oil pump... so my ECU detected it and when ever i try to start it up my ECU will shut off my car causing it to crank. So you have something bad that the ECU isnt letting you start your car.

[Vap0rXT]

Well its been running fine and havnt done a thing to it yet, I just picked up plugs, wires and coil. It could probably use a tune up anyway its been 2 years. Considering I'm not getting any check engine lights or anything can my problem be diagnosed with a computer without any symptoms and the car running fine?

[Vap0rXT]

This is strange I thought it was fixed after this whole time after replacing plugs, wires, coil. And it just did it to me again 2 nights ago. It seemed like there was no gas or spark, then the next day it started up just fine. wth


Any ideas?

[gthompson97]

What trim car? RS, GS, GS-T, GSX? I had the ECU on my RS go bad one time and it causes some really random stalls and things like that, it may be that your ECU actually did go bad.

[Vap0rXT]

It's just the standard basic model, no frills, 5 speed manual.

Any recommendations on a cheap place to pick one up online? I seen one on ebay but it's used at about 130 bucks.

Will disconnecting the battery reset the ecu if it happens again or is it just a fluke of nature that this happens?

Thanks for the reply.

[TalonEclipseMixGsx]

I believe unplugging the battery resets the ecu, but if u have permanent damage its not going to fix that. Does it crank strong, or does it sound like its running out of juice in mid crank. Is the squeeking belt the alternator maybe? Upper most belt on the gsx is the power steering, not sure bout the gs/rs. Do those models have the DIS, i know my 94 talon has a distributor, which has cut out on me after pressure washing the engine.

[Vap0rXT]

Originally Posted by TalonEclipseMixGsx

I believe unplugging the battery resets the ecu, but if u have permanent damage its not going to fix that. Does it crank strong, or does it sound like its running out of juice in mid crank. Is the squeeking belt the alternator maybe? Upper most belt on the gsx is the power steering, not sure bout the gs/rs. Do those models have the DIS, i know my 94 talon has a distributor, which has cut out on me after pressure washing the engine.

Yeah it's strong, lights don't dim or anything. It's quite possible that's the belt making the noise, it quiets after about 5 minutes. Is DIS the same thing as coil pack? If so yeah I have one, no rotor and distributer cap.

I just find it weird that it did it 2 nights in a row a year and a half ago then the exact same thing a few days ago.

At this point it seems to me it's a moisture issue somewhere. It's done it at night when I got off work, no other time.. However it seems the moisture level is higher in my garage than outdoors. But yet a full on down pour doesnt seem to affect anything.

[TalonEclipseMixGsx]

Distributorless ignition system. If you got coil packs then then u dont have a distributor. I think i would just do a tune up, and when u install the new wires make sure the boot is all the way down on the the plug and the coil pack, to prevent any moisture from getting to it. If that doesnt fix it, then i would take the other peoples' advice on the ecu.

[Vap0rXT]

I just grabbed one of my old plugs, not sure why I still have them lol. It does look like it's getting alot of moisture down there. Kinda stupid how they're so recessed on these motors, seems like it's just asking for it to collect.

Thanks for the help