Odd stall; motor won't catch after.

[Cookiewhistle]

Hey all,

I've got an 89 hatch with the stock single slammer and here's my problem. The car sat for a little while and when I was finally able to work on it again she wouldn't start originally. I went, swapped out the plugs, wires, dist. cap/rotor and the ignition coil; tossed some starter fluid in the intake and she fired right up. I worked all the bad gas out of her and she ran without a problem.

Couple days later after having her back on the road again I decided to take her to the store. I was going down the road and the car was running fine but then all of a sudden she stalled. It wasn't violent or anything, she just simply ceased and all the lights were lit as if I was about to turn the motor over. When it did that I popped the clutch and she fired back up. She did it again about 20 feet further down the road, popped the clutch and fired back up. Took her home and that was the last of that.

The next day however, I fired her up and had no issues. Drove her around for about a half hour with no issues. Couple hours later, decided to go to the store again, halfway to the store she did another quiet stall but this time she wouldn't catch again. Popping the clutch didn't work and when I put starter fluid in the intake she tries to catch but doesn't. She'll fire for a second or two but never completely start.

I don't think it's a fuel problem because there's still fuel to the rails and I don't think it's spark because the plugs aren't fouled out and everything else is brand new. Any ideas?

[asoomal]

I'd go over and check for vacuum leaks and also make sure the CAS and MAF plug are connected properly.

[compactfean]

I second the maf and cas plug idea, also did you replace the igniter with the coil? On a honda I owned, I replaced the coil and within an hour the igniter died.

[Cookiewhistle]

MAF and CAS are fine. I've checked them multiple times and have swapped out the MAF with other ones and the ECU isn't throwing a code. I'm about to go pick up a brand new OEM dizzy for dirt cheap from a guy off craigslist sometime this week and toss it in and see if that fixes it. I have a feeling it might.

However, if the ignitor was going bad wouldn't I have had violent stalls? Misfiring and a jumpy tach and what not?

I'm not too worried about getting it fixed right away though since it's not my DD but I'll definitely check that out while I'm at it.

[compactfean]

I've had one car do the jumpy misfire runs like s*** happen with one car, on another it just simply lost acceleration and died. Let it sit, it would restart after a couple hours.

[Cookiewhistle]

Yeah that makes sense when you stop and think about it. I'll definitely add that to the troubleshooting process. I'm going to go ahead and swap out the dizzy first, mainly because I'm getting it for so cheap ($60) and from what I've gathered is generally the culprit for this problem.

I'll keep everyone posted on what the outcome is.

[Cookiewhistle]

Alright, here's the dealio. Picked up the dizzy today and swapped it out to no avail. Next up to try is the igniter. I'm also thinking the FPR might be the culprit. It's gonna end up taking an act of congress to get this poor thing running again.

[compactfean]

That's why ill diagnose every sensor possible before spending money on something that might not be it. The fsm is your friend. Lol.

[asoomal]

^ +1

All you need is a decent multimeter.

[Cookiewhistle]

Alright so. I've hit a wall on this one.

So far things that have been tested/replaced/switched out have been my ignitor, dizzy, plugs, wire, and my cap and rotor. I visually inspected all my fuses and have taken a multimeter to them and they all check out fine. Grounds on the motor are good; I've double/triple/quadruple checked them just to make sure I didn't miss something.

But even despite all of this I'm still not getting spark. I even had a friend turn the motor over for me with the plug connected to the wire sitting on the strut tower touching the bare unpainted bolt; nothing.

Next step, pushing it into a lake. Not really but that's what it feels like haha. I'm beginning to wonder if the coil that I got from autozone wasn't already on it's way out or something. With duralast, anything is possible.

Other than that; does anybody else have any ideas?

[asoomal]

Hmm, so did you test the coil be performing the procedures listed in the FSM?

[compactfean]

Once again, if you think something is bad.... Test it! You can test a brand new part just like an old part. Do you know how to google ”240sx fsm”? What do you know.. First result is nico. Download read, then read some more, than go work on it.

[Cookiewhistle]

I have, yes. I'll go and double check again to make sure I'm not being stupid. I'm also aware of the FSM and I have been scanning over it as I go through this; but it never hurts to ask for other suggestions. There will always be somebody that will think of something you yourself may have glanced over.

Edit: I accidentally a word.