hatch77

Driving to work this morning my engine just quit. It kinda sounded like it was only firing on three cylinders and doesn't crank up any more. It turns over just fine, but doesn't crank.... I did get it to crank up one time after it quit and had to keep my foot heavy on the gas in order to keep it running, but could'nt get it above 1500 rpms. I angled my mirror down to check out my exhaust and i noticed that it was sputtering black smoke... so it's def. not firing all the gas. It was running so rough it was shaking the entire car.

I checked my fuses, all good.
I checked for loose, corroded, and disconnected wires around the O2 sensor, didn't find any.
Checked to make sure all plug wires were connected to the distributor...good.

I'm clueless at this point. I am suspecting the coil, but i have always known them to go bad just "*click*" and it's bad. Perhaps a spark plug ended itself? I dunno, I'll check it out and post more when i get home and tear into it.

GIMMEAN"H"

check the spark plugs. i've had that happen before, and every time it's a spark plug.

hatch77

I sure hope that's what it is

it just happened after i had hit a bump, so something shook loose i think.

Fabrik8

Check all you grounds from the battery and engine block also.

MerF

Sounds to me like you skipped timing....as in the belt, not the spark. When I skipped a few teeth in the Supra, the same symptoms happened to me.

00civichatch

run a compression test too. that will eliminate some things

MerF

Kinda....it would rule out spark, that's about it.

neogenesis2004

from my experience black smoke means running rich.

MerF

Running rich could be caused by a plethora of problems, one of which is insufficient spakr, another is insufficient compression due to valves/pistns not working together normally.

hatch77

And you were right Merf, my timing was off by almost half a cam gear! Not to mention there is a nice little slit in my belt that I've never seen before. Which automaticly denotes a timing belt mishap. I hope i didn't screw up any valves.