Randomly stopping (engine dies), gettin' mad Options

[kavo]

Well its been a long time since ive been on these forums (since I was a young dumb teenager looking to do sick mods )

anyway so my 6gc has been cutting out randomly with no warning. I will be driving along then the engine light comes on simultaneously as the engine cuts (all the other lights come on too) and I have to very quickly clutch to maintain as much momentum as possible and pull off the road. This has happened numerous places, on the way to gym, peak hour traffic and not even at the end of my driveway. THen I cannot start the car.

Sometimes I have just left it and came back several hours later and it starts fine, other times wriggle wires and itll run for 30 sec then wont for a few hours. Very frustrating as it has been a couple of weeks since it happened last, and when the car is running me and my dad (motor mech and diesel fitter by trade) cannot diagnose the problem.


Today when i was wriggling wires I pulled this plug, which has now disintegrated except for the actual connection. I will try and start it later but is this plug needed for the car to actually run?



anybody had similar problems with their car stopping like this? or knows what it is?

[Special_Edy]

You need to determine if its fuel or spark. This could be the fuel pump.
I would also check the coil and crankshaft position sensor immediately after it fails(like before it has a chance to cool and start working again).

Carry a phillips and standard screwdriver, a can of starter fluid and a multimeter. When it dies pull off the intake hose and spray starter fluid into the intake/throttlebody. If it starts then you arent getting fuel, if it still doesnt fire then you arent getting spark. If its no spark,unplug the four wire plug on the top of the distributor and check the prongs where the red and black wires would plug into the distributor(your checking the inside of the dist, not the wire). Measure for resistance, it should be 185 to 275 ohms. Next remove the dist cap with the phillips screwdriver, and check for resistance between the positive and negative terminals on the coil(they are on the side close to the rotor, both wires are secured with a nut). Resistance should be 0.4 to 0.5 ohms on the 5sfe, 0.3 to 0.7 ohms on the 7afe. Now check resistance between the positive terminal on the side of the coil and the high voltage terminal on top of the coil(where the electricity goes into the dist cap). Resistance should be 10.0K to 14K ohms on the 5SFE and 9.0K to 18.1K ohms on the 7AFE.