1988 Subaru GL SPFI, Manual Transmission, Selective 4 wheel drive, has the lo-hi lever.  There is a transistor under the Ignition Coil. The number on it is HF 8311. It looks like it is wired into the ignition coil. Do not understand it's purpose and could it cause a vehicle to stop running? My Subaru repair manuals don't go into this. thanks.

Don't know exactly what it is called but "power transistor" comes to mind.  Never hear of one failing but as for the no-start problem, the entire coil bracket has to be grounded.  The power transistor grounds to the coil bracket and the bracket to the rest of the car.  No ground=no start. 

 

Check for a broken timing belt before anything else. Does the distributor rotor turn when the engine is cranked?

First things to check-

Are you getting spark?

 

Remove center wire from the distributor, and arrange it with a wire or whatever to make a gap to ground. See if it sparks while cranking.

 

Fuel?

 

T a pressure gauge into the supply line after the filter under the hood.

 

Also, when the engine is cold, and sat for a good while, if you remove the air boot, you can see fuel spray from the injector on the initial crank. If you try to observe this, do be careful about moving parts, and the possibility of a backfire. You don't want to be missing an eyebrow, or worse.

It's an igniter. It basically amplifies the signal being fed to the coil from the ECU.

John KY : I saw the ground wire for the coil and cleaned it. Timing belts not broken, distributor turns, Has Spark and Gas. Thanks for all the replys, I will start a new no start post. The Subaru Dealer here charges $120 an hour. Trying to do this myself.

You are at the right place!  There is an incredible amount of talent lurking around on here Figuring out the problem will require some additional information. When did it happen and how, were you just driving along and it died? Have there been any recent repairs to the car? Make sure the distributor rotor is firmly attached to the shaft. The little screw likes to fall out and that can cause a no-start. Like others have said ^^^^ you will need to find out if it's a lack of fuel, lack of spark, or a mechanical problem of some sort, timing belt etc.

It is showing codes 11 and 13, crank angle sensor. Another post said those were Ghost codes. I was driving the car when it suddenly died on me. No hiccuping, no coughing, no sputtering. The spark plugs are sparking, the distributor is firmly in, the screw in the rotor is in. I looked down the throttle body, it is getting fuel, the fuel ignier is working/clicking. We suspect it is a short or open in the wiring somewhere around the distributor or coil. Timing belts did not break and they are in time. I put in a different distributor too. The fuel ignitor has been also changed out.There have been no recent repairs to the car. It has about 190,000 miles on it.

If it has spark, and didn't before, it could be flooded. Spray carb cleaner into the throttle body for 1 to 2 zeconds. Hold gas pedal to floor crank 5 to 10 secondso of crank. It might take a few tries, but if it tries to run, that's a good sign.

Both belts are good and in time?

 

Was the check engine light on?

Is it still on?

If so, one of those coses is pointing to your issue.

If swapping does nothing, check wiring to disty.

 

Clear the codes and see which one comes back first.

I pulled the spark plugs, it is not flooded. It will not fire even on starting fluid. but, I will try the carb cleaner.

Both belts are good and in time. I pulled the timing cover ends off. Check engine light is not one. I have cleared the codes. It blinks 5 short flashes now. There is 4 wires going to the distributor. One wire does have juice with the 12 volt tester, I believe it was the green one.  The wiring colors change after the connector.

Don't know where you checked for spark but still won't fire even with starting fluid has me thinking the distributor timing is way off or the spark at the spark plug electrode isn't enough to ignite  the fuel. 

It is firing now on starting fluid, but will not stay running. The distributor timing was off a little bit. I will be looking at the fuel delivery part again tomorrow.

check fuel pressure, also the injector.

Isn't there a pair of green leads that you can connect to activate some self tests, or is that only on an EJ? I haven't played with my SPFI setup in years.

Yeah the EAs have green test connectors too

 

Have you checked for spark at all four plugs?

 

Have good fuel?

I did not check spark at all 4 plugs. I did put new rotor, new plugs, new cap, and new spark plug wires on it. The iHigh Tension lead on the gnition coil is slightly out of specs according to the ohmeter, but it is still sending spark out. I will change out the fuel injector today. I slightly undid a fuel line and got lots of fuel. The fuel line has lots of pressure and I was careful.

There is no juice (NOW) going to the fuel injector. There was the other day. I do not know what happened. Will check fuses (AGAIN).