Hello USMB,

I've posted a little here before, and now i have a problem and am seeking help. I drive an 89 RX hatch with the following mods:

wrx TMIC

wrx TD04-13L

280zx brown top injectors

3" exhaust from the turbo back

5 lug with ground control coilovers

turbo timer

I was driving my car normally today, didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. I was stopped at a light, then went it was my turn to go, about half way through the interection my car makes a boom noise then dies. Its made this boom before when off throttle (it runs a tad rich) but never on throttle like this. The car does not start now, it turns over but doesn't start. I checked all the fuses, fusable links, wasn't throwing any codes, no leaking of any fluid, and nothing is changed physically under the hood. It has been cold lately, but i wait til the car is fully warm before i decide to drive it. So what is wrong with my car? Any help is appreciated, thanks in advance.

-Victor

Sounds like the drivers side timing belt stripped some teeth, or otherwise snapped.

 

Take the distributor cap off and see if the rotor spins when you crank it. Also make sure the rotor screw is still in place.

 

-Dave

you forgot to mention the plugs look normal.

Sounds like the drivers side timing belt stripped some teeth, or otherwise snapped.

 

Take the distributor cap off and see if the rotor spins when you crank it. Also make sure the rotor screw is still in place.

 

-Dave

Excellent deduction, this happened to my dad's car around this time last year. I will check tomorrow along with the rotor.

 

you forgot to mention the plugs look normal.

the plugs were replaced about a month ago, they were fine when I checked a moment ago.

Thanks for all the help so far, I'll post more when I'm back with the car tomorrow; its way too cold to be tinkering outside right now.

Cheers.

leaks after MAF can do this, especially when the large hose is blown off

try disconnecting the MAF electrical connector

BTDT :-\

Today was a good day, I got a lot of christmas shopping done, and revived my car. I pulled the cap off to see that the rotor was still there, but spun freely. I then realized that the screw for the rotor was sitting in the dizzy. The dizzy and cap both looked fine, so I put it back together and she fired right up.

To prevent this from happening again, is it alright to put loctite on the screw?

Thank you all for the input which helped me fix my car, I really need it for school next month. Cheers.

-Victor

heh heh, that same thing has happened to me several times, on a few different cars

 

Locktite will be fine to use. I believe it was in '87 they had a keyed distributor shaft. You can take the cover off and swap out the top of the shaft. Find a keyed rotor, and that will never happen again

 

-Dave

heh heh, that same thing has happened to me several times, on a few different cars

 

Locktite will be fine to use. I believe it was in '87 they had a keyed distributor shaft. You can take the cover off and swap out the top of the shaft. Find a keyed rotor, and that will never happen again

 

-Dave

 

It was '85 to early '87 that did this and the SPFI disty will work too. You might need to change the electrical connector on the harness for the disty but other then that, its a direct swap in. I might have a new cap for it too IIRC...