Exorcising the prince of darkness

I suppose it was inevitable after nearly 200 thousand miles that my stepson's 93 with Lucas distributor conked out. It returned the correct code, and a new cam position sensor fixed it without problems. The reason for this post is that while diagnosing, I found an interesting thing. There was a complete no-start condition, no spark and no fuel. But then, when I unplugged and replugged the sensor at the distributor with the ignition on, I heard the various resetting sounds, idle air controller, etc., and it started and ran fine. It wouldn't restart unless I did the same thing again, but it did restart every time I unplugged and replugged it with the ignition ON. I figure that might be helpful info to keep in the back of your mind in case of future failures.

Will do. I have cut and paste your post into a file I named "No Start Troubleshooting". Hmmm...my XJ tech scrapbook is growing quite thick. I dread the day I lose the binder. It'd be similar to losing my eyeglasses. :explosion

Funny, after reading the title of this thread and before opening it, I thought, "Lucas Electronics?"
That's good info Matt.

I've heard you can do the same thing when your CPS packs it in. would'nt want to rely on that info though...

Before you decide to exorcise the Prince Of Darkness again, let me know when Ozzy Osbourne is in town so I can go to his concert, especially if it's OzFest.

wascobi said:

I've heard you can do the same thing when your CPS packs it in. would'nt want to rely on that info though...

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I actually once did get someone going on the side of the road by unplugging and replugging the CPS, but in that case the ignition was off, and the vehicle restarted for a time after that. The interesting thing here was that it had to be on, and was only good for a single start each time.