Broke down... Questions while sitting here. Options

[black93hardtop]

Stock 1994 Celica GT (zero modifications). Manual trans.
Driving along and the car shuddered 3 times before dying and not starting back up. Cranks normal, sounds healthy, good fluids and battery voltage. I can hear the fuel pump running. Cranks but won't fire with starting fluid. Assuming its not the fuel system at this point.
The car is in very fine condition mechanically and routinely serviced. New coil 3000 miles ago. ECU was swapped 10k ago because of a bad capacitor. No prior problems. No service engine codes.
Any ideas where to start?
Thanks,Brian

[mkernz22]

I'm thinking spark plugs, wires, or distributor since you have fuel, and air going to it and it's trying to crank over

This post has been edited by mkernz22: Jul 17, 2012 - 11:23 AM

[black93hardtop]

Update: all fuses look good... No loose wires or disconnected plugs that I can find.

[black93hardtop]

I'm thinking spark plugs, wires, or distributor since you have fuel, and air going to it and it's trying to crank over

Never had even the slightest miss fire and besides the 3 shudders, it died rather quickly. I doubt it's plugs, wires, cap or rotor.. But it could very well be the pickup in the distributor. Or the coil even though it's new. The car was only running 5 minutes from a cold start. It's right down the road (4 miles or so).

[black93hardtop]

Car is back home... I'll begin diagnosis soon. Still open to suggestions.

Thanks,
Brian

[black93hardtop]

Had a good spare igniter. Swapped and no change. Next..

[Neon90424]

you can hear the fuel pump running? can you crank without plugs and smell the fuel though?

[95CelicaST]

Pull a plug and hook it up to the wire while it sits on the valve cover. Have someone turn it over and watch for spark.

Check that your timing is still correct.

[mak5603]

Check your cap and rotor. One time my rotor must not have been torqued well enough and ended up breaking somehow and I had similar shudders and lost the ability to start the car back up after shutting it off.

[black93hardtop]

Well I fixed it yesterday. No spark... I pulled the cap and there was quite a lot of oil in there that wasn't when i changed the coil (bad seals)... Not to mention my not very old coil had a huge crack in it. I pulled the distributor and decided to swap it with a new one. No more oil leak and it started right up! Timed it and its back on the road! Thanks for all the help guys.

-Brian