Last summer on the highway my 1997 Montero stopped running as I was cruising along about 75 miles an hour. I coasted off the highway and parked at home Depot for the weekend. Once I got it somewhere safe it sat for about 5 months before I had time to work on it. Inspection I noticed that a tooth was missing on the timing belt.
i proceeded to go through the timing belt procedure as it is printed in the manual. Now that it's properly timed, I am getting no spark on coil #3. I've changed the cam sensor multiple times. I bought one and got one from a junk yard. I've e also changed the wiring harness to the coils from the coils all the way to the firewall out of a harness from a 2003. I've also changed the coil three times. Once are the new one, once a used one, and once with the old one for the ones that are on there are basically new. I've also changed both temperature sensors. Somebody mentioned something about the ECM? Not sure what that entails. Does that mean that I need to have one programmed or a new one? Any other suggestions? All help is greatly appreciated.

 

Are you getting no spark signal on #3 coil or misfire on one or two cylinders on the coil #3? It sounds like you've done a bunch if troubleshooting at this point, but it seems to go in the wrong direction. Have you tried swapping working #1 or #2 coils with the #3? This is the way to see if the issue is related to the coil itself or to the coil wiring.

 

Can I just supply a 12 volt power wire to the coil in order to make spark? If so which wire would that be? All three wires share the same blue wire with the black stripe. I'm assuming that's the ground? Is the other thinner wire next to it the power wire?

 

No, you can't test it this way. First of all, the signal to the coil is 5v not 12v. Second, the spark occurs only when there is change in magnetic field in the coil.That happens when you go from 0 to 5v and back from 5 to 0v. The duration of the signal pulse has to be just the right length, so that maximum field change happen utilizing both of these on/off states on the single spark.
You can and should measure resistance across the rimary and secondary coils. There should be a specified value for both. See if it's within normal range and also compare it to known good coils (sounds like cis #1 and #2 in your case)

 

Have you tried the simple things like swapping #3 coil to #1 cylinder to see if the problem stays at number 3 or follows over to #1? Have you checked your spark plug? Pull it out give it a good visual inspection make sure the tang isn’t bent and touching the conductor? Make sure the top or the ceramic isn’t broken? It may sound stupid but it can happen. GM is notorious for causing plug issues. Besides start cap and work up to the more expensive issues.