Suddenly won't start - ignition problem?

My van was running great last night, but just now I went to start it and it won't catch. The starter is turning as normal but it won't even attempt to catch. I put a timing light on a couple of the plug leads and don't seem to be getting any spark at all, and I can smell a bit of gas out the exhaust after trying so I believe it's purely an ignition problem.

I haven't done anything on the right side of the engine since 5k miles ago when I changed the plugs, wires, cap, and rotor. I did top off the oil a couple of nights ago. The fuses look fine. The radio, fan and dash lights are coming on normally.

Any ideas on what could cause the ignition to suddenly go out like this? I'm parked on the street so I can I can only do so much work on it.

Sounds similar to a situation i was in 5 months ago....i replaced cap, rotor, wires and plugs as well, then a short time later the ignition coil fried. I thought my fuel pump went out because it wasnt running when i turned the key on but it turned out the computer wont let the pump run if theres no spark. in the end i pulled the cover back off and found it was the coil, replaced and bam, she ran fine. you say you smell fuel when cranking??? maybe residual odor being pushed through the pipe? maybe a critter got in there and dislodged the coil wire.

Thanks for the reply! The gas smell could have been some residual pressure, or even my imagination. Looks like the coil is pretty easy to test, I'll give that a shot.

Fuel can flow without spark. If you have a bad coil or igniter this will not affect the flow of fuel. There is good troubleshooting information in the thread Josh references. Here's a link: http://www.toyotavantech.com/forum/s...p?631-dead-van. Good luck! Tim

My car is running again but I have no idea why! The coil read .5 ohms rather than the 1.2-1.5 the manual said it should, so I picked up a new one. It also read .5 ohms! Unfortunately I didn't check it until I had the old one half way out. I got stuck on a stripped screw and decided to call it a day. I put everything back together and it started right up!

The coil was cheap so I guess I'll keep it around just in case and hope it stays running for a while.

I went to the Haynes and is lists a bunch of different variations of the distributor/coil, some with .3-.5ohm coils. So my question is - do I have the right coil in my 89?

Yeah, I'm not sure why Toyota says that should be 1.2 - 1.5 ohms because it's pretty normal to see .5 on a good coil. Keep in mind that coils can be temperamental. It's not unusual to see one perform well when cold but mess up when hot. Since they are cheap, if I'm dealing with an intermittent issue I will usually just replace rather than risk another break-down. Good luck. Tim

I had a similar issue with my van not starting. It would crank OK, but would not start. Upon further checking, the 7 Amp 'guages' fuse was blown. This fuse is located at the fuse panel below-left of the glove box. I may have an intermittent short in one of the three (3) electrical branches that are on the load side of this 7 Amp fuse. I replaced the fuse twice and it has not blown a third time - yet! :dizzy: