No power to my coil

Explain no kind of power to the coil. 12v or no spark out of the coil? And how do you know, have you tested it with a meter?

Power to your coil comes directly from your SBEC )single board engine controller). It could be an auto shutdown relay. Check the voltage on the dark blue wire of you alternator with the key on. Here is the location in the diagrams below. Let me know

Sounds like the auto shut down relay isn't on. It is also turned on by the SBEC. Either it is bad or the SBEC. It is in the engine compartment and with a breather hose running to it. It also houses the voltage regulator and is a high failure item. Good luck

Nice work, we are here to help, please use 2CarPros anytime.

You will only have voltage to the coil for one second after turning on the ignition switch. It will come back whenever the engine computer sees engine rotation, (cranking or running). If it does not, suspect the crankshaft position sensor or camshaft position sensor.

Special procedures are required to set the air gap of the crank sensor so don't just yank it out to look at it and stick it back in. If the Check Engine light is on there will be a diagnostic fault code that will tell which sensor has the problem. If there's no codes, you'll need a scanner that can display live sensor data to see which one is missing.

Caradiodoc

You have snow too? Sorry to hear that. Everyone I know in WI is trying to get out to get away from the crazy property taxes.

Don't waste your money on the cam sensor in the distributor. If you're getting 12 volts to the ignition coil, the automatic shutdown (ASD) relay is turning on. The computer turns it on when it gets pulses from those two sensors.

If you also have pulses driving the ignition coil, it does indeed sound like it's bad. Normally I'd say that's not terribly common but I just solved an intermittent problem with my '88 Grand Caravan that I was fighting for 11 months. Acted just like a bad accelerator pump in a carburetor but turned out to be the coil.

Caradiodoc

Never heard of Tony. I'm in Wausau, darn it! Driving in Chicago is much easier.

On hot days my 3.0L would totally cut out at anything over half throttle, and pick back up when I let off the gas. Acted like a fuel problem but they actually run worse when coasting when the pickup screen is plugged. Standing still it could be revved up just fine. Eventually it would sputter for a few minutes, then die, but could be restarted in a couple of minutes. Ran fine on cold days until about two months ago when it died completely. Finally I found no spark. ASD relay was turning on and scanner said it was calling for spark. Popped in a used coil from my other van and it's running great. Made a 570 mile round trip around the state and it's back up to almost 23 mpg. Yippee!

All I can figure is at higher rpm and load, it took a higher spark voltage and that's when the coil was breaking down. When it died and had to be trailered home, that was the first time in 22 years and 224,000 miles it didn't get me home on its own power.

Caradiodoc

Not sure what you mean by "pick-up stator". Do you mean the camshaft position sensor in the distributor? Voltage to the coil, fuel pump or pump relay, injectors, and alternator field will only be there during engine rotation, (cranking or running). The Engine Computer turns the automatic shutdown (ASD) relay on to power those circuits when it gets pulses from the cam and crank sensors.

If the 8 volt supply to the cam sensor is missing, unplug either the cam or crank sensor, then turn the ignition switch off and back on to see if the voltage comes back. If either sensor or its wiring is shorted to ground, the computer will shut down that power supply to protect itself. As I recall, when the short is removed, the supply will not come back until the ignition switch is cycled off and back on.

Caradiodoc