Crank, no start. Any ideas??

[BiigZaddyy]

So my 89 LXi has had this crank no start condition for about 4 months. Sometimes it will start and die immediately, sometimes it just doesn’t start.

I first tried cleaning my IACV and adjusting my Fast idle. No luck. Then I did my fuel filter, the one under the hood on the firewall, no luck. Then I did my main relay and dizzy cap and rotor. Took of the cap and BOOM, red dust everywhere. Replaced the whole dizzy today, no luck. Just constant cranking.

When I turn my key to the on position, I hear the fuel pump kick on.

Is there anything I need to check? What could be the issue? I’m at a complete loss here, so any insight at all would be very greatly appreciated. I feel like I’ve hit all the major pain points. Thank you in advance.

Also this is my first time posting! Had this car since July.

Edit: Thought I would clarify on what EXACTLY happened when the car died. I started it up and it was stumbling really badly. I let it idle for 3-5 minutes and saw no improvement so I turned it off, looked under the hood for any smoke/obvious leaks. I didn’t see any so I tried to start her up again and it stumbled WAYYY worse and died after about 20 seconds. Would start and die and after a while it wouldn’t start.

After I cleaned my IACV, it started and didn’t sound like it was stumbling when I revved it, but would die if I didn’t hold it. That’s what made me think the fuel filter.

[Oldblueaccord]

You need spark and you need fuel and you need them at the correct time.

So i would look at spark at the plugs first.

The crank and die part sounds like your main relay. Did you replace it or just re solder. The re solder fixes the bad connection on the board it doesnt fix worn contacts on the inside.

[BiigZaddyy]

I replaced the relay with a new one from O’Reillys.

I also replaced spark plugs, wires and alternator when I got my car in July. I guess I can try swapping the wires out for the old ones to see if the ones I got went bad? I think that’s unlikely though.

Will report back after.

[Oldblueaccord]

I replaced the relay with a new one from O’Reillys.

I also replaced spark plugs, wires and alternator when I got my car in July. I guess I can try swapping the wires out for the old ones to see if the ones I got went bad? I think that’s unlikely though.

Will report back after.

Well what I meant was HOLD OFF on the parts swapping and do some troubleshooting.

If you dont have spark at the spark plugs the car wont run. I would removed a plug wire and check for spark there first before putting any more parts on it.



If its not sparking I would make sure the rotor under the distributor cap is spinning. The rotor is turned by the cam and the timing belt turns the cam. The belt could be broken.

[BiigZaddyy]

Okay, so I took off my valve cover and my cam belt is not broken. I’m not getting spark to any of my cylinders or to my distributor, so I took my multimeter out there and terminals A and D are testing at 1.2 ohms between them, but I wasn’t getting a reading for A-high tension or for B-D. This implies a bad ignition coil, no?

Once again, thanks for steering me in the direction of diag and not just part swapping, massively appreciated.

[Oldblueaccord]

I see your online so quick answer is yes.

[BiigZaddyy]

Sweet! Thank you so much! I’ll update the post once I get the coil.

[Oldblueaccord]

I still might suspect the new distributor.. the rebuilds arent know to be real good.

Also make sure battery voltage is 12.7. Sometimes when cranking if it falls off alot you wont get spark.

[BiigZaddyy]

I bought a new distributor, not a rebuilt, so I don’t think that’s the culprit. I will double back to it if this coil doesn’t fix it, though.