Stalled D-Jet

Drove to work the other day and all was fine. Rained all day as usual. Leaving work, car would not fire up. Finally fired up but stumbled terrible for about 5 seconds before stalling. Next day, same but did run normal a few times for 5 seconds then stall suddenly.


Trouble-shooting:

1. Fuel pressure, tapped off left side fuel rail, gives 30psi cranking, 20psi after cranking -> good pump and regulator.


2. Timing light strobes on each spark wire during cranking -> all sparking.


3. Condensor green wire to ground measures 0.2 ohms; test light flashes connected to negative side of coil when cranking -> condensor not fried, points working.


4. White spark off original black bosch coil wire grounded to case; primary coil measures 2.9 ohms (spec 3.0 ohm); secondary coil measures 9.37 kohms (spec 9.83 kohm)-> coil good.


5. #4 spark plug pulled and found dry after cranking; disconnected cold start valve plug and bypassed fuel line around valve with no change -> not flooded from cold start valve.


6. Fuel pump relay activates pump for a second after key on, then stops. Relay output to pump is 10 VDC while cranking -> good fuel pump relay.


7. CHT sender measures 2.25 kohms at about 50F -> good sender.


8. MPS measures 91 ohms for primary coil (outside pins, spec 90 ohms) and 330 ohms for secondary coil (inside pins, spec 350 ohms) -> injectors should be firing.


9. Injector plug removed and found no voltage across pins during cranking (only one pulse at key-on). Switching trigger contacts verified between outside pins of trigger contacts and middle pin as engine was turned by hand. Removed trigger contacts and found worn cam blocks. Replaced trigger contacts (311 905 301) in distributor with new set and engine fired right up -> worn trigger contact cam blocks found to cause no-start.

Solution: replace worn trigger contacts with new part.

Brad Anders site was very helpful - thanks Brad!http://members.rennlist.com/pbanders/DJetParts.htm

Edit: subsequent measurement and replacement of the original trigger contacts demonstrated worn cam blocks was not the cause of the injectors not firing. The original trigger contacts were cleaned and replaced on a replacement engine after the exhaust valve broke. It's likely this stalling problem was caused by dirty contact surfaces.