93 camry 4 cylinder 5 sp. No start

[joea]

93 Camry 5sp. 5sfe 244,xxx. New clutch at 186,xxx, new distributor 135,xxx.

just replaced brake lines. Went for a test drive, worked fine. Next morning, no start. Came back from work, started right up. Next morning started fine. But did not trust it, at that point.

Started up every morning, and night. Finally, this weekend, drove it around town. Seemed fine. The, it "bucked" once, and smoothed out. Bucked again a little more, then ran fine.

Pulled into the PO to drop off a letter, backed out, and it stalled. Would not start. Cranks fine, and "bucks" once in a while, like its way out of time, or cross firing. Had to flat bed it home.

Still will not start. Changed the igniter, no change. Sprayed starting fluid into the intake (almost a big mistake). It "puffed" out with a bang, bit of smoke, no start.

I also bought a coil, but cannot find one in the car. Perhaps it really is built into the distributor?

Anyway, I am suspecting the distributor since it has over 100,xxx on it now. But it was an aftermarket that was supposed to be lifetime, improved, blah. But, could it be?

joe a.

[Mister_Perkins]

yup . probably the coil. pull the cap and dust cover off, grab a multimeter and measure each post

Left post (Primary) should have : .36 to .55Ohms of resistance --- Two Nuts on the Coil
Right post (Secondary) should have : .9 to 15.4Ohms of resistance --- Left Nut and Bottom Post on coil (Metal Tab at bottom)

If the coil checks out, the igniter is probably bad. Unfortunately there is no test for the igniter.

You could also check the GE/NE Pickups inside the distributor.

To do that, you pull the large connector on top of the distributor with the red, yellow, black, and blue wires and probe the terminals.

Two left pins should have 135-200 Ohms
Two right pins should have 125-200 Ohms
Two Outside pins should have 155-2500 ohms

Good luck