AE92 broke down for 1st time! (any help appreciated)

[branney]

I was driving along in a 30mph zone and suddenly the engine lost all power. I thought it had stalled so i changed down to 2nd and all I got was more engine braking. I had to coast to a stop. The starter/battery seem ok when i turn the ignition, but it seems the engine is not igniting any petrol.
The spark plugs are fairly new. I was wondering does this sound like the distributor?
It seems I can take the cap off with 2 flathead screws, except they are a bit rusted and also the radiator is getting in the way. I've been quoted £40 to tow to a garage. How much would a new distibutor be, or is there anything else I should try first?
I think the timing belt was replaced not too long ago (maybe 3 or 4 years). Could it be that?

[corollaguy86]

i had the samething happen to my 89 gts and it ended up being oil in the distributor cap cause of the o rings being worn out they have a gasket kit you can buy to replace all the seals in the distributor on EBAY they have a kit under AE92 check it out

[kilo_tech]

try checking the fuel pump relay or fuse, i have a saab 900 turbo, wrong forum, but it did the same thing to me and later i found out that my fuel pump fuse had broken and was slowly spreading apart as it got hot. after a while the gap got to big and the electricity couldnt jump the gap. my car started slowing down even when i had my foot into the throttle and down shifting did nothing. but it is work a try to check all your relays and fuses while you are at it. it works best to use a volt meter when testing the fuses to make sure the power is getting to the other side. somtimes they can look intact but really arent. good luck

[knowltondata]

Had that happen to my Astro.... ECM fuse... wierdest thing.... only does it when the tank is slap full.

[branney]

I tried swapping some fuses around to no avail. Turns out it was the timing belt!

I thought it had been done recently, but 'recently' was about 55,000 miles ago...

I was pretty sure I didn't have to worry as this is not an 'interference engine' (so no valves should be bent). But the garage I took it to looked in their book and said it is an interference engine.

This is the 1990 non-TVIS (red top from memory). Anyone know for sure before they try and charge me £400?

[branney]

just for the record got the timing belt replaced 14/09/06 and this fixed the problem - no bent valves either!