On the way to work this morning the Cavalier died going up a hill. A few spurts...and then dead as a door nail. After pushing it uphill, in traffic, through a construction zone...I safely got it to a neighborhood street where I could troubleshoot. I put some fresh gas in it (running on old gas from last year and below 1/4 of a tank.

That didn't do anything.

I poured a little gas down the throttle body.

That didn't do anything.

My friend Chris who was helping me pulled a boot off spark plug #3 and I cranked it.

No spark.

So on my lunch hour I'm off to try a new coil. Any other thoughts on what could cause a no-spark condition? Could it be a broken timing chain? Bad HEI module? Or is that all built into the coil?



Any advice would be helpful and I hope to get this thing home tonight on its own power.

Thanks all,
-D

Make that "DIED" instead of whatever I put inthe subject line!

I would say the ignition module. When they go, they go. I had one on my Fiero go out on the way to work a few months ago and it was a brand new complete distributor.

Not being the mechanic here, but my first thought was on that ignition module too.

Thanks for the advice guys, I appreciate it. My brother helped me run out on my lunch hour and bought an ignition module and coil...and realized I didn't have a small enough socket to remove the module in my brother's toolbox. The coil is mounted under the darn intake, too so I'd have to jack the car up to get to it. I broke down and called a flatbed and its at the house now so I'll work on it this weekend. Only cost $65 for the tow and he was gentle

My money is on the module as well since its been running like dog vomit for a while (pinging and spark knock, lack of power) so that may have been acting up for a while. Either way its getting a tune up and some loving this weekend.

Thanks again all. I'll update this when I get her running again.

-D

If you want to be sure, take the old one in to get it checked before you buy a new one. That is if you know someone at a parts house that you can trust.

Considering my level of expertise isn't any higher than earlier today...

My understanding of ignition modules were either they work or they don't--no in between. Shouldn't be any indications of "pinging and spark knock, lack of power", or running like any fluid from the inside of a dog :p

Am I correct on this?

I wonder if since it's a 2.0, that means timing chain--I had a V6 from the 80s where the chain broke and got sucked back into the distributor shaft. No noise or anything, just a shut down and now spark like an ignition module--could that happen on this motor considering the location of those two things?

Yeah, I thought about the timing chain as well, but the rotor turns when I bump the starter, so that tells me the cam is still turning. That's always good. I also thought fuel pump...but the pump cycles and the relay clicks. I smell raw fuel when I crank her over. I wish the darn coil wasn't mounted upside down on the intake. Its going to be a bear to get off. I have to get the manual out, but I have a fear I will have to pull the intake to get to it. Or jack the car up and get creative.

Here's where my lack of electrical knowlege hampers things: Does the ignition module have any role in advancing or retarding timing? Or is this strictly a ECM function? If it does, then I guess it would explain the bad drivability. But yes I've always been told most electronics either work or they don't.

There could be a multitude of things going on here (old gas from last year, original fuel pump getting weak, etc). But its time for a serious tune-up.

I'll dive into it more this weekend. For now she's safely home. I just have to make room in the garage for her

It was the ignition module. Replaced it when I got home and put a new cap & rotor on and we're back in business.

Its alive!!!

Daryl-

I know your engine is different than my 1.8, but my distributor was going over time and would just fail here and there when hot, leaving me stranded. I replaced it and we were back in business in a big way. If I remember right, you have to set your advance on the 2.0 cars. On my 1.8 you set a base level timing, and the ECM advances and retards it based on inputs.

I used one of those in line testers to diagnose in between the coil and distributor - that will narrow it down right away.

Good Luck!