I have a dead car that is driving me crazy. I have been through the archives and FAQs regarding a car not starting. Items found so far are the clip that holds the hall system wiring in the base of the distributor; fixed and checked for any possible grounds to the distributor body. None found. I have 12v, 5v and a good groud on the harness to the distributor. Triggered the fuel injectors by jumping the 5v to ground in the harness. Also was watching for spark but did not see any spark from a plug that was grounded to the block and connected to #1 plug wire. Checked terminal 5 on the power stage; the volt meter does fluctuate as the motor is turned over so that seems to eliminate the Hall sensor. The power stage connections are clean as well as the ground to the heat sink.

I still do not have any spark from the distributor plug wires. Tested by pulling a wire off #1 plug and connecting that to a spark plug grounded to the lift on the motor, turned the ignition on and used a remote starter.

The power stage feels warm while the ignition key is on so that would not seem to be the problem. Or am I wrong? Is there anyway to test the power stage? Where do I go from here?

My apologies for the long post.

I admire your diagnostic process. It seems you have checked input to the power stage on 5 but have you checked output at pin 1. This output feeds the coil negative terminal and also is used by the tach. Do you see the tach nudging up slightly while you are cranking? I don't think the power stage warmth is a indicator that it is good. BadCoil?

Thanks for the responses. The wiring diagram that I have is from the Haynes manual on page 132. I had not thought about checking the output from pin 1. That should give me a good idea if the power stage isn't working. According to the diagram, I should be able to check at the coil for switching voltage. I will give that a try tomorrow. I don't remember if I mentioned in my post but I did remove the wiring harnes from the power stage and clean the contacts as well as behind it where it attaches to the heat sink. Both were clean but I cleaned them anyway with electrical contact cleaner and seated the power stage to the heat sink with diaelectric grease.

I will check tomorrow and let everyone know what I find. Thanks again!

Sounds familiar!
Pull off the power stage connector and check for moisture. It doesn't take much to prevent spark.