[emilio]

93 5sfe 4 door LE

here's the deal guys. I was detailing my engine with the gunk/water combo, and i was very hesitant with the hose and didnt rinse well...

there was a strong smell so i thought i would do it again rinsing better but also covering the electrical components better...

no dice. the second time i did it the car would turn over, but wouldnt start. no power going to plugs, so i checked the distributor cap...the center contact was worn to crap, so i replaced it with a brand new one from the dealer...costed me 50 bux!!! damn CA spec crap...

now I am not even getting power from the dist. cap to the plug wires (ive tested with meter)...and so although the rotor spins, I don't think i am getting power to the distributor cap from there...

i think the prob. is with the rotor, but i cant take the damn thing off...do i have to undo the bolts that connect it to that metal block? I thought it would just come off with soem muscle but it doesnt...


on a further note...any other advice on the problem..the battery is fine, and all the lights work...it could possibly be fuel but im 90% sure it isnt. although i dont know a whole lot about cars...

the thing that scares me is that no matter what, the damage done to the distributor cap i dont believe could have been caused by water...so im kind of scared, as to where else the water may have caused a problem, because the car ran fine prior to this.


any idea on what mihgt be wrong??advice???

thanks a ton guys

edit: and where is the coil? the haynes manual says all this crap about secondary coil wire and im just like

sorry im only 16 so i dont know a whole lot and i need my car to go to work and school =/

 

[Neon]

It is your rotor for sure. 100%. Very easy to take it off.

 

[emilio]

ok thanks man but i cant get it off...lol

 

[CrawlingEye]

buy a haynes/chilton

 

[emilio]

i have the haynes...it doesnt give very good details

 

[CamryWhat?]

Had the problem its probly both your plugs and wire with your Distubor coil

 

[Nico]

Had the problem once, the spark plugs wholes were flooded with water, just make sure they are not in 1 or 2 in of water. As for the rotor, I remember having changed it and that it was not that difficult but don't remember exactly how. I think you would just have to unbolt it and pull it.

Good luck !

 

[emilio]

honestly i don't think the plugs is the problem (at this point)...

I have checked, and no power is being given from the dist. cap to the spark plug cables, so although the spark plugs *could* be defective, it is not the immediate problem, its hard to test if the rotor is delivering power to the distributor cap because the damn thing spins so fast, but I am fairly certain that, that is where the problem lies...

thanks again guys

 

[amerikim]

remove a plug, keep the cap on it, keeping the plug touching the block, crank the engine to see if theres a spark. Do not hold with your bare hands or you will get a shock.
sounds like its a water thing, dry it out. Keep the cap off and use water displacement spray.

 

[bl0d]

Right now I'm having this exact same problem. I've checked all connections and everythings dried out now, but still no spark.

I already replaced the rotor and checked the cap and wires.
the coil tested out good too but it's just not getting any power to the coil.

I really need help with this, I NEED MY CAR WORKING AGAIN!

 

[karazy]

1. make sure coil wire is dry
2. make sure that there is a 12v supply to coil
3. make sure that the wires are connected properly/securely

 

[bl0d]

it's running now. for me it was the ignition coil, which was odd considering that when it was tested it seemed fine and the autozone guy said the same thing...but i figured that if it didn't change anything, i should still be able to take it back and try visiting a junk yard tomorrow. thankfully i didn't have to resort to either, but the new coil did set me back $60

ah well, still thankful it wasn't the $150 ignition module or a new distributer...

 

[evotou]

this same thing happen to me. washed the engine and then it just crank and crank. no spark at all. Bl0d, so it was the coil?? if it is i need to replace. how to you remove the rotor???

 

[bl0d]

when you've got the distributer cap off (3bolts), the rotor just pulls straight out. it goes in only one way, so there's no way, short of lots of force, that it can go back in wrong unless you remove the entire distributer. anyway, i don't remember how the coil is fastened down, but i do remember the three wires that you need to remember how they attatch to the coil, and remove them before you can do anything else.

if you had access to a good multimeter, you could find out which wires you need to test to see if any power is going to the distributer at all, that's how i figured out that the problem was in the distributer to begin with and eliminated options from there.