I have an 89 GL wagon, 1.8 non turbo mpfi. Had an issue where the car conked out on me at wierd times and changed the distributor and fuel injectors and everything was ok. Then a year later same thing and I thought no way, I just changed those so I tried everything else to no avail and the code was showing fuel injector failure, so I changed that and still had problems. So then I changed the distributor and everything worked just fine.....for another year. So the other day is was raining like a banshee, I am on the freeway and the car starts jerking and dying. For sure felt like loss of power and not fuel. I pull over, crank the engine and nothing. 20 minutes later after opening the hood and noticing everything looks normal, the car starts. I drive it a half mile and the same thing happens. Again, 20 minutes later the car starts and dies in a mile. Again, it's jerky, I crank it when it loses power, starts, dies, and I coast it to the side of the road. Yes, I have a new cap. rotor, plugs and wires. All three distributors are from different manufacturers. 1st was OEM. Help before I lose my mind! Oh, the car started the fourth time and took me home three miles with no problems.

Check to see if you are getting spark to the plugs when this trouble happens.

 

There may be a problem with power getting to the ignition system or the injector.