First, the rant. My friend's mom was driving his 1990 765T when it died. She had it towed to an AAA approved shop where they charged her about $500 to change the power stage (ignition amplifier, or whatever you want to call it... a $50 part). I nearly choked when I saw the breakdown of the prices.

Next, go read the FAQ. It has good advice for the for the most common non-start situations. Based on your description you haven't given any reason to suspsect that the ignition system is the problem (i.e. could be the fuel pump relay, could be that the timing belt jumped a tooth or snapped).

The price he wants to charge you is completely within reason, it's the actions that worry me. The spark plugs and wires are something that should be replaced on a regular basis, no question about that. The power stage and hall effect sensor are common failures, but he should do some diagnostic work before replacing everything without question.

I doubt that they would all fail at once. Extremely unlikely. In fact the distributor is almost surely okay. The common failure point is the hall effect thingy which is essentially one with the distributor. When you crank the engine over, does the tachometer move a little bit (not wildly like it would with a drained battery)? If it does, your distributor is, with regard to this problem, okay. If it doesn't, that still doesn't guarantee that the sensor is bad.

The power stage (power amplifier, ignition unit, whatever) and the spark plug wires are parts you can replace yourself with a screwdriver. Cost: $100.

The spark plugs are easy to replace, but you will need a ratchet and the proper socket. Cost: About $30 for the tools, $8 for the parts.

The distributor itself is a bit more difficult due to the lack of space around it. The little connector on the bottom is also fairly delicate. Cost: Tools - $15, Parts - $200.

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alex

'89 765T, 171,3xx mi