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I'm not a big fan of the "replace parts until it starts" approach, BUT sometimes that's all you have, and if you're talking a few hundred, not a few thousand, it may just be money well spent anyway. At least you could end up with a couple of known good spares. The crank sensor for example, is money well spent even if the last one was ok. They can go bad without warning and it only takes one away-from-home problem to ring up a big bill.
A large problem on the Regina cars is the ignition power stage, so you are indeed looking in the right direction. The problem isn't typically the power stage itself, but the contacts between the power stage and the heat sink. You can take it apart with a star bit (don't remember the size). Clean the contacts very well and reassemble. When I say very well, please make sure they are shiny and new looking, any imperfection can cause a problem. Make sure that you clean and remove imperfections from the mounting bolts and the mount points of the heat sink, plus the contacts themselves. It all matters.
Trust me, this has happened to me personally, and more than one time. This can cause anything from intermittent no-start/no-explanation events, or a complete and permanent no-start.
Having said that, I have never replaced one, they never seem to break. They do seem to corrode (imperceptibly) in the contact areas and that can lead to a host of mysterious maladies. Furthermore I have noticed that sometimes the contact points are poorly assembled, some are bent, or they touch lightly. You'll see what I mean. Any failure to conduct electricity between the coil and the ground (via heatsink) can cause a no-spark problem like you're talking about, and it is frustrating to find. Trust me, it happened to me personally at 2am at the airport, it happened when double parked, and best of all, it happened to my mom, when she borrowed my car for a day. And that time, it didn't restart until I traveled to the shop wearing suit and tie and fixed it myself, because they called me complaining that they were so busy, my car was still parked on the street and if I wanted to see it within the next week, I had better come down and fix it myself. (These are my friends... so they can get away with it).
Now, before we go too far, it is possible that the computer crapped out but the computers from the Regina cars almost never do. Just the Bosch from early 90s. If you want to get an extra computer, you should be able to do so cheaply, the junkyards can't sell these if they try.
Also, don't tell anyone but it looks like the Jeep Cherokee 4.0L from similar years may have the very same coil... but I never actually tried it. If it is the same, it will have a different part number, and cost much as 25% of the one with "VOLVO" on it (note sarcasm). Just like the Regina fuel pump, which comes out of the tank with a big "GM" embossed on it, and probably rides around in many Chevrolet vehicles, but costs only 1/4 the price at the GM dealer of choice.
Let me know if you need more info.
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Chris Herbst
Scottsdale, AZ
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