Hello Mitsu guys,

As the title reads, my car just died at an idle, cranked it over for a few seconds, had a random stutter, smelt fuel, and then tested spark.

I'm not getting any spark to any cylinders (97k miles, car was given to me with no mechanical history). From what limited knowledge I have, this make makes me think it's the ignition coil, maybe the rotor or the ignition possibly. I'm sure it could be a sensor, broken wire running to any of these, amongst other things. I don't think it's plugs or cap because I think it would be unlikely to shut down all the cylinders spark at once, I don't think I've ever even heard/felt a misfire.

Obviously I could run test to narrow it down, I don't have the money or tools to run many of these tests. For the cost to have it towed and mech to look at it ($55 to tow it one block, LOL), I could probably change many of these parts. It's a $500 junker A to B car so I'm really not looking to put to much money into it, but had planned to do a tune up next week, figures. My question is, what is most likely my problem, in your opinion, having worked on and read about these motors. Not sure but I'm pretty sure it's 16 valve and assume SOHC, I also assume the coil is in the distributor (getting mixed answers and pressed for time), so not sure there's easy/simple way to test it (can't seem to find an external one, but it's dark and freezing when I'm not working).

Anyway, I need this car to get to work, I need sleep as I go from one job to the next all day long, and get about 5-6 hours sleep each night, 7 days a week. Any help you can offer would be appreciated. The thing I keep thinking about is how the car fired a few cylinders after the stall, and cranking it over for about 5 seconds. What part would likely die, and then come back to life for a second before dying for good? Remember I'm looking for educated guesses, that's all, I understand my information is limited. Many of these parts should be changed anyway, just wish I had a week to gather money to do them. In what order would you swap in new parts? I'm fairly certain I can handle the installation of any of these parts, might need help with there location though, heh. Thank you for your time and help in advance. Need to get a a few hours of sleep though, will check this in the morning, and post results when I figure it out.

-Seeds

 

i suggest you take the vehicle to a good dealer since the issue seems like bigger than discussing over forums.

 

well my friend your in luck. if your 95 galant is like many of the other ones i have worked on for this same issue, your distributor is bad. the coil and cam sensor are built into the distributor. replace the distributor and the o ring that goes on the shaft. this was a VERY common problem on 94-95 galant. good luck!!