Hey.

Car details:
1996 TE Magna Executive.
280,000 KM
V6 3L

I have been having some major issues trying to diagnose and fix my Magna. I was driving along and broke down whilst driving (lost power to everything)

RAC came to tow me home and told me the issue was not the battery or alternator but rather the distribution cap or "pickup" sensors, this was because there was no spark.

I took off the distributor cap and noticed how the contacts were very worn so my first action was to purchase brand new rotor arm and distribution cap, this did not fix the issue. The unit that the cap connects to is apparently the distributor that contains the ignition coil and the sensor (Pickup sensor I think). So I purchased a entire distributor from a Magna wreckers and added this into the car.

I am getting noise from the engine when starting, beyond what the starter motor does, it sounds like the engine is moments away from turning over and running on its own power, but it never does.

I do not seem to be getting any sparks from the cables that deliver the sparks to the engine. (I tested this with a screwdriver)

So distributor unit (including ignition coil and sensor) from wreckers and brand new distributor cap and rotor arm and still no sparks.

I have charged the battery up with a charger and also hooked it up to another car using jump leads, so I can rule out battery issues. Power does seem to be getting to all parts of the car.

At this point I am really stumped.

Does anyone here have any ideas?

Thank you.

Joseph Goss.

Read the error codes.

Read the error codes.

Sorry if this sounds really dumb, but how do I read the error codes? I was under the impression a dedicated computer system that the mechanic has will be able to read from the engine.

It is known as the "flashing lights method" - you ground a pin in the diagnostic connector, then turn the ignition ON and a sequence of long and short flashes is used to display any recorded error codes. Search for details of which pin and how to read the flash sequence.