My daughter has a 1999 Sebring convertible JXi that won't start. She originally had a rough idle and stalling at a stop light, so we replaced the Crank Position Sensor and the EGR valve and those problems went away. Then a couple of days later, the car died as she was driving down the road at 45 MPH...I found that there was no spark. Her rotor and cap were shot and I assumed the coil was bad, so we put a new distributor in..but the symptoms did not change. So this is what I have found/tried: I swapped the 4 relays into the ASR postion, no change. All the fuses are good. There is a trigger voltage for the fuel injectors and we are getting an RPM indication when the engine is turned over. What I am not getting is the trigger voltage on the green/red stripe wire coming from the PCM to fire up the coil.

My question is, what would cause the PCM not to send the trigger voltage? Is it a bad relay? A bad Sensor? Is the PCM itself bad? Thanks!

 

Codes?

 

The only code was for no spark...which I already knew...

 

"The only code was for no spark...which I already knew... "

What code was that?

What codes are present now?

 

The code reader that my daughters neighbor used simply said "no spark"...I didn't see a code...that apparently was the only issue, there were no other codes/issues present. My feeling is that something is keeping the PCM from sending the trigger voltage to the coil...

However, this is the only code that explains the symptoms we are having: "28 43 Ignition coil A, primary/secondary circuit malfunction Wiring, ignition coil"...and since the symptoms did not change from one distributor to the next and I am missing the coil trigger voltage, the problem is either the PCM itself or something telling the PCM not to fire the coil...

 

The 1999 model would put out OBD2 codes that come in the format Pxxxx where the x's are numbers. Try the "key dance" by turning the key from "off" to "on" to "off" to "on" to "off" to "on". ["On" is just "on", not "start".] There may then be some codes displayed in the odometer space. Push the odometer reset button to cycle through them. Write them down. Google them. If that doesn't work, rent or borrow a code reader capable of downloading OBD2 codes. Auto parts stores may loan you one. Sounds like your neighbor's code reader only can get OBD1 codes.
Getting the on-board-diagnostic (that's what OBD stands for) codes is the place to start in repairing any modern car. No point in guessing when there's information stored in the computer.