Does the engine shaft rotate when you turn the key, or not? Look at the pulleys on the left (driver's) side. If it does, do the spark test.

Jury-rigged wiring should be restored to stock. There's no reason to add wires to the distributor for a sound system. (Maybe it's just a ground wire, if it goes to one of the bolts on the engine rather than into the distributor itself. Extra ground wires don't hurt anything.)

 

mk378 - my son watched while I turned the key & he said he saw the pulleys turning. I don't have a spare spark plug to do the spark test. (I can't get to town to get one). I'm thinking I will have it towed tomorrow to a mechanic about 5 miles away who has worked on the car before & I trust. Could you, or anyone else, maybe give me an idea of what you think it would/should cost to replace spark plugs/wires, and or ignition coil, and/or starter solenoid - or possibly any other scenario you think possible like this? I know it could be anything and could cost anything. But I'm really thinking its not getting fire/spark from what I've read & done so far. If someone could let me know what I'm possibly looking at - major cost vs. medium cost vs. relatively inexpensive cost - it would go a long way to helping me decide if I can get it fixed now, or have to wait til my next pension check comes in June 1. If I haul it to the shop, and I can't afford to have him fix it, or, he can't get it done in one day, then I'm stuck there, or, have to walk the 5 miles back home. Any ideas regarding what expense could be would be appreciated. I just have no experience at all to base a guess on. Thanks!

 

If you can't get a spare spark plug, then remove one existing plug and do the spark test for each plug wire as described in the Spark link in my signature.

 

The shop just called. They changed the plugs. They also told me for some reason, 2 of the cylinders had too much gas in them. I told them about thinking I ran out of gas, putting gas in, etc. and they said No, it was a matter of too much, not too little. They don't know why. I don't have a clue, but think somehow maybe I flooded it trying to start the car so many times? They also discovered a small leak in my radiator, which I had pretty much figured out already since I had had to add coolant to it a couple of times. They are charging $75 for what they did today - plugs, cleaned up the cylinders, filled the radiator, I think new plug wires too - I think is a good price. To replace the radiator they said will be about $315, and I guess that is a good price too. They said to just stay on top of it til I can bring it back in June. That will be easy, since I don't drive that much. Thank you everyone for your help.