91 Loyale Weak Ignition and No Power

[finni]

I have a 91 Loyale SPFI that died while driving down the freeway. I lost power, but the car was still running. If I stepped on the gas pedal, it would cough and die. I could turn it off and back on, but no change in condition. At home, it eventually stopped restarting.

I replaced the coil, distributor cap, rotor, spark plugs and wires. All with no change in condition.

I thought that the timing belt may have jumped a tooth since one of the belts was on, but loose along one side. I replaced it all with a new kit, etc. Again no change.

I can see gas being sprayed into the throttle body, and I have okay compression, but I am getting a weak / intermittent spark out of the coil.

The battery tests out fine, and when it starts to get weak from trying to start the car, I have a plug-in charger/jumper, so I know it is getting enough power on that end.

All the fuses and fusible links test out okay.

I pulled a junk yard coil, bracket, igniter, but again, no change.

I have tested the distributor and crank angle sensor (inside distributor) and everything seems to be functioning there. I have the distributor / rotor lined up correctly.

Does anyone know a way to test the ECM, apart from just replacing with another unit?

Is there anything else you guys think that I am over looking?

These cars seems so simple, that it is frustrating that this is so difficult.

 

I don't know if the two problems are related (ignition and no accelerating power), but I hope that they are. One the bright side of all this, I am learning a lot about my Loyale.

 

Thanks for any help,

Paul

 

Lastly, does anyone know what this thing is? It is inline to (or from) the ignition coil. It looks like a relay, it has a two pin connector going to it. One of the pins seems to be 12v and the other appears to be ground. The Haynes diagram seems to call it a condensor, but other than that I can't find any reference to it, or any info on what it does. It has "250V.DCO,47µF  OH15" printed on it.

 

[john in KY]

Airflow meter.

[mikaleda]

Just a thought but maybe check the main power supply coming into and out of your main fuse/realy box it may have a bad wire not letting enough power to get to your ignition system to work properly.

[finni]

I thought I would update this.

My car started and I was able to adjust the timing and take it for a spin around the block. I can't say I did anything or replaced anything, it just decided to start one afternoon.

A few days later I tried to start it up to drive to work and it wouldn't. I turned, but there was no combustion.

I left it until the weekend. After a bit of tesing on the fuel injector and ECM connector (the 10 pin conn), it started up, but when I attempted to take it for a drive it stuttered and stalled out in front of my neighbors house. I pushed it back to my place, thankfully it is not heavy and there was a downhill section.

I tinkered with the fuel injector connector and it started up. I let it warm up fully and put it into test mode and drove around my neighborhood, but it stalled and died while driving.

I tinkered again with the fuel inj conn and it started and got it home.

So I am not saying it is the connector, that could be coincidence. I get continuity from the connector at the ECM to the fuel injector, and the fuel injector tests okay for resistance.

This seems like an intermittent short.

 

I don't know what I need to do to fix this to keep it from stalling out. Around the neighborhood is somewhat okay, but I work 20 miles away from home, and I don't want this breaking down on the I-90 bridges.

[mikaleda]

Check the grounds to the ECM

[finni]

A few weeks back, I checked ECM grounds and power, but it wouldn't hurt to do it again. Thanks