Long story short, I need a new distributor.

[Seann]

Hey guys, one night, I was driving along, with a mild coolant leak, and took a turn. In the middle of said turn, my engine just died. So I have a 90 GTS with the first gen 5S-FE, and the engine turns over but theres no spark. I also get no reading on my tach while cranking, whilst before it did. No trouble codes, and all the electronics seem to be working.

At first I thought it was the ignition control module, because of the non existent tach reading. Nope, then I checked the ignition coil, and I noticed that there was only an intermittent spark, however the resistances across both coils were fine.

Now heres where the coolant leak comes into play. My old man did some digging for me, and found a few posts across a couple forums stating that the distributor pickup coil can be damaged if the engine overheats, (Which regrettably happened when I first noticed the leak.)

My local part stores want 400 bucks for a new distributor, and I just don't have that kind of cash right now, as well as the fact that i need my car in a couple days, so heres my question.

I've got a few pick-your-part like stores in my area, but none of them have a year or model matching Celica, but ton of Corollas and Camrys.

One in particular is 92 Celica GT. (Or ST, I can't remember specifically.) I was wondering if I would be able to pull the distributor off that, even if its the second gen 5S-FE? If not, Could I pull a replacement off some of the 1990 or 1991 Corollas or camrys, even if they don't have a 5S-FE? OR maybe you guys could help me out with which specific cars I can pull the distributor off?


I'd really appreciate the help guys.

[BottleCapBandit]

90-91 5sfe distros are the same. 92-93 5sfe have the ign coil built in to the distro. I dont think that you can use the distro from a st (4afe).

[Seann]

Yeah, anything else I can pull it off of? What trim levels of camries did have that first gen 5sFE?

[BottleCapBandit]

Idk. Its going to be the same on all first gen 5sfe. you can get it off a celica gt 90-91. I think 90-91 camrys had 3sfe.

[Seann]

Okay, so I changed the distributor and still no start. I took it apart and left the pickup coil plugged in and turned the distributor by hand with the key on. I could hear fuel spraying in the intake and saw a spark from the coil every quarter turn, but it still won't start! I also the tach doesnt move anymore when I try and start it. Anyone run into this before?