BANG! BANG! BANG! and then she dies :(

[akeem_da_dream]

That's the onomatopoetic way of what happened this past thursday on I285 heading home. She let out several misfire rounds, then an engine stall. Electronics were still working by the time I pulled over.

Checked for engine codes - code 21 (O2 sensor? just replaced it a year ago!) code 41 (need to calibrate TPS - actually a longstanding code) and code 23 (air intake sensor - located in the AFM).

checked the resistance between E2 - Vs, fully closed measured 520 ohms. Supposed to read 20-400 (http://www.cygnusx1.net/Supra/Librar...aspx?S=FI&P=59). Would this cause an engine to misfire and stall?

Opened the dizzy cap (less than a year old and OEM) looks fine, however, there is no "tab" for cylinder 5, is that normal, considering where its located? Rotor (less than a year old) looks fine. Wires good, same age. Copper plugs do not look anything out of the normal, bought in January, inspected, cleaned and regapped every other oil change, approx 12k miles on them.

Fuel pump controlled by a switch, when switched on the soft hum of the pump confirmed it was working, plus hearing it swish when I put my ear close to the tank, if that makes sense.

At the time of the stall, coolant temps was very normal, oil pressure was normal, no white smoke coming from exhaust. I do know that when the car was misfiring, a lime-green Camaro behind me QUICKLY moved out of the way! Tow truck driver suggested that it may have been something in the ignition system, since it misfired before stalling.

So what else am I missing? Could it really just be an AFM issue? Thanks again and again for you guy's repeated and relentless help!

[johnb7]

Timing belt? take of the top cam cover and make sure everything is still turning and lined up. Obviously check for spark and timing with a light if that al seems OK. Would not hurt to do a compression test.

-John

[scottevil]

Yea turn that crank over by hand. Should give you an idea if you dun broke somthing. As said before double check for you're spark,fuel(at rail)and air.

[Road Ripper]

Yup, check for spark first. I had an ignitor go out on me very suddenly. The first sign of trouble was a sudden loss of power, only a second long. It's like the key had just turned off, then on again. Then it was fine. 15 miles later on a back county road it just suddenly died, so I coasted to the nearest field approach and parked it. Checked everything, and no spark. Replaced coil/ignitor assembly and it fired right up and has been fine ever since. Ignitor only had 136k on it when it failed. I now always carry an extra coil/ignitor assembly in the car at all times.

[MikeMac]

I'm with Road Ripper, check for Spark. I also had a bad experience with the Coil/Ignitor, went into Subway and left it running came out of Subway and it wasn't running tried to start it and it didn't start. Called my wife to come get me and after work put on a new coil/Ignitor and it has been working ever since. I too now carry an extra with me, you can change one in a couple of minutes if you have the stuff with you.

[akeem_da_dream]

thanks for the advice so far, I hand-cranked the crank pulley by racket, and it tends to be moving freely, by the timing belt isn't moving along with it...problem?

[Rich64N]

I can think of 2 possibilities:
- Timing belt has deteriorated so there are teeth missing (condition of timing belt?) - usually due to an oil leak behind the timing belt covers
- Woodruff key problem between the timing belt pulley and the crankshaft.

Either one you are going to have do something similar to a timing belt job - remove the harmonic balancer/crank pulley (get the steering wheel and gear puller for $12 from Harbor Freight and protect the backside of the radiator with a piece of cardboard).

[akeem_da_dream]

Rich,

I do have an impact wrench, if i remove the radiator can i pop off the crank pulley bolt that way?

OAN: there is an oil leak behind the timing belt cover

[bahlorm]

That's what I had to do. Had to remove the radiator and the fan to get to the crank bolt. Heard some say you can put a 19mm wrench on it and crank the car to try and break it free but I have not done this.

[akeem_da_dream]

that's the technique I tried. managed to get all the seals off, didnt realize the oil pump gear had a seal as well, so I didnt even order it. Hopefully it is not leaking.

the front crank seal was a bit brittle, so clearly my oil leak was sourced from there. The oil probably caused the GOODYEAR GATORBACK belt to rip apart!

I removed the cam seals as well, they were slowly leaking, might as well get those replaced while I can. I need to also buy a few cans of engine cleaner, because there is sludge EVERYWHERE

the woodruff keys look fine, no rust.