I had a broken cooling system hose and when I replaced it I apparently knocked a plug wire off the distributor. When I tried to start it it started and ran rough and died. ( I think I then tried to restert immediately and it wouldn't catch at all) I found the loose plug wire and resetaed it on the distributor. It won't stat and doesn't give any hints of starting either. I pulled the cap and replaced the rotor I never got to a week ago when I did a tune up. No change. I drive this car from time to time for work and I need it running by early Monday. My guess is that trying to start it with the wire disconnected caused the iginiter and or coil to snap.

I have the Chilton manual and it lays out the testing procedure for the coil and igniter, but if someone can narrow this down or help with good advice-thanks

 

Take the cap off and try to draw sparks to a grounded test wire you hold near the coil output. If you only get little yellow sparks, coil is blown.

 

Running or cranking the engine with a plug wire disconnected may blow the coil.

 

Well thanks a lot to you and HCF.com. You said a yellow spark means bad coil and that was just what it was.