I'm sure this has been posted alot, but its frustrating. My car will crank, but obviously won't turn over and start. We just replaced the starter last week, used ignition coil and relay was added a couple weeks back. But constantly id drive car to work and back for about a week or so and then magically I wouldn't be very far from my house (maybe about a mile away) and suddenly my engine will shut off and I obviously lost all power steering all the dash lights come on and bam. The car is dead. My dad is saying its an electrical problem possibly the distributor (probably never replaced) but from what I've seen it could be a bad battery( or a cheap one at that, but when we got it checked they said it was only a couple years old) or the fuel pump, (we got the fuel pump replaced almost a year ago at a shady mechanic and even then it worked, sadly my gas gauge doesn't work so i always have to eyeball when to fill the tank via the tripometer). So I have no clue what to do next. If it wasnt the distributor it would suck to pay a couple hundred on something that possibly didnt need to be fixed.

 

What year is this? Depending on the year it has a crankshaft position sensor, or a Hall effect sensor in the distributor. The symptoms you mention are likely caused by that... oh, 1986, I see, so the Hall sensor or the coaxial wiring to it should be looked at.

 

An engine must have compression, spark (at the correct time) and fuel. So-

Easy things, bump starter with key - listen for the fuel pump to buzz (door open, door light switch pushed in to stop the dinging) should buzz for 1 second then turn off. Fuel pump is under car, under driver seat.

If no buzz - could be fuse, relay (green, above drivers knees). If so equipped some cars have a blade style fuse (ATC) under the hood that powers the fuel injection system. It's connected directly to the positive battery terminal. Notorious for bad connections/melting since in the open under the hood. Or there may be no spark - it takes an ignition signal to turn the fuel relay on (some cars)

Pull the coil wire out from the center of the distributor cap - carefully position the end 1/4 in away from the body (hopefully in a way that you will not get shocked) - spin engine over - do you have spark? If no, there are many choices, If yes turn your attention back to the fuel system. I trust the timing belt is still attached (and aligned correctly), there is over 3/8 tank of gas in the car, the battery is strong enough to spin the engine over and you have looked under the distributor cap to make sure something obvious has not malfunctioned under there.