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Car had not been driven for 12 days. Had about 2/3 of a tank of gas with some ethanol content. Was pretty cold while I was away.

This morning she started fine. I drove about 2 minutes to the supermarket on my way to work. It stumbled a bit on the way. (I had the air hose replaced last year, it wasn't a leaky hose).

After sitting in the parking lot for about 30 minutes she just would not start. Engine turned over just did not catch. Repeated attempts led me to become nervous about burning out the starter. After sitting for about 90 minutes it started. Stumbled a bit on the way home and stalled several times moving slowly through nasty snow in low gear.

Now it will not start again.

I checked the battery and while a little low at just over 12 volts it should not have been the issue. Charged it up. Still no starty.

Spark plugs were replaced in May 2007, so have less than a year and about 6000 km (3700 miles) on them.

Is this likely the distributor? I understand the disty is a weak point in these engines (stock K8). If so what is the easiest DIY replacement? Not necessarily the best but quick and cheap and easy. I have to do this in an unheated garage in Toronto, Canada in the winter.

My level of skill is low but i have done things on the car like replace the crank position sensor, the clutch slave cylinder both of which were uncomfortable and awkward to access and do myself but were manageable. But if the disty replacement options are as taxing as that i would probably pay someone to do it. I love this little car but it is just a winter ride so I look to do it quick and cheap.

Help and advice appreciated.

I guess what I probably should have asked is:

1. Does this sound like it is the disty or ignition module?
2. If so would the HEI mod likely fix it (the simple version without adding an external coil) or do i need a new cap and rotor?
3. How much of a pain is this to DIY? Graded on a curve compared to easy things like changing plugs or more awkward things I have done like changing the crank position sensor or replacing all of the clutch lines and slave cylinder.

well, i'm a bit of a noob, but it has the same symtoms as my MX3 when the disty died. so it's probably a good bet. do you hear the fuel pump come on ??

BTW, i got my garage to change my disty and it ended up costing a hell of a lot... at least try to find the part yourself or else you're wallet will be hurting.

HEI mod <50 bucks.

Custommx3 wrote:HEI mod <50 bucks.

Not really, the module is at least that around here. I called around last summer when mine went, the cheapest was $55. GM dealer wanted around $75

i searched ebay , i found this
> http://cgi.ebay.ca/NOS-4-Pin-Distributo ... dZViewItem
and this:
>
http://cgi.ebay.ca/Accel-35361-Ignition ... dZViewItem

-now it does not look like what you guys use ...

that is a cheaply made part but a good but none the less here are a few grat links to check out. i just recently did the mod myself using higher grade materials. technical skill is lightly required but if you can follow instructions and not get mixed up when doing an external coil you should be quite ok.

http://www.clubprotege.com/wil/howto/hei/index.htm

and the more expensive but more complete route below

http://www.probeaddiction.com/msd.htm

or you can message me back and i can give advice on whats best and what works or if you are on a tight budget i am here to help!

I proceeded on the HEI install. (not the coil - maybe this summer). Biggest hassle seems to be mounting the thing.

Things went okay until I went to connect

" the bottom-most wire on the 3-wire distributor plug (solid red in color) to the "C" terminal on the HEI module "

as per the instructions. It appears that on my 3 wire connector the color of the middle and bottom wires are reversed. The top wire is blue but the middle one is red and the bottom one is blue and yellow. Also the connector housing is cracked and looks loose - but that is another problem.

Not sure if this is a model thing but I assumed the connector location was determinative rather than the wire color. eg it is more likely they just wired it with the "wrong" colours than it is likely that the car ran successfully for 14 years with wires connecting the ignition coil negative and the tachometer signal mixed up.

Still not feeling 100% confident about this. Reassurance/ advice/ slap upside the head welcome.

3-ping Plug (fromp top to bottom):
Solid Blue (ignition coil +)
Yellow w/blue stripe (tachometer signal from ignition coil) remember to use 1k ohm resistor
Solid Red (ignition coil -)

6-pin Plug (from the top to bottom)
Solid Orange (Ignition control module ecu trigger)
Black w/green stripe
Pink w/white stripe (camshaft position sensor SGC signal)
Pink w/green stripe (camshaft position sensor SGT signal)
White w/red stripe
Black w/light-green stripe (ECU constant ground)

stereoking15 wrote:3-ping Plug (fromp top to bottom):
Solid Blue (ignition coil +)
Yellow w/blue stripe (tachometer signal from ignition coil) remember to use 1k ohm resistor
Solid Red (ignition coil -)

Right that is what all the docs say however my 3-pin Plug is wired top to bottom:
Solid Blue
Solid Red
Yellow w/blue stripe

so the red should be closest to the disti , yellow in the middle and the blue closest to the intake side of things. terminal C to solid red, and in our case solid blue to terminal B, and orange on the 6 pin connector to terminal G, dont forget to ground W to the chassis and ground the module through one the metal rings (mounting rings) to the chassis as well and you should be set. if it doesn't start it may be because you still have the blue and solid red on the three pin still attached to the plug, you may need to disconect it completely in some cases and just leave the middle one attached (yellow wire) for tach signal

? that is still odd though that yours is wired that way...any help from custommx3? i would wire accordingly minus the way they are colored in your case i would still go by the schematic, i have seen in subarus that this happens as well as toyotas they "run out" of correctly colored wire or in general make a mistake on the line. still wire according to diagram regardless of where the mismatched colors may be.

stereoking15 wrote:? that is still odd though that yours is wired that way...any help from custommx3? i would wire accordingly minus the way they are colored in your case i would still go by the schematic, i have seen in subarus that this happens as well as toyotas they "run out" of correctly colored wire or in general make a mistake on the line. still wire according to diagram regardless of where the mismatched colors may be.

This was kind what I thought. more likely to be a mistake in assembly.

I wired according to layout, ignoring the fact that on my 3 connector plug the yellow/blue and red wires are in the wrong place.

Car turns over but will not start.

Ground appears solid, along with connextions on the HEI end. I have not disassembled the self tapping connectors on the other end to check those connections because it seems that might compromise re-doing it.

Any thoughts welcome. The HEI module is a brand new Niehoff so I don't think it is bad.

Have you tested to see if you have spark? It could be your coil, not your ignitor.