I have a 2.0L stratus 5 spd. Just wasted a lt of time and money trying to figure out a no spark condition. Be careful on what you read where, who you talk to and what they say, what manuals and internet stories you read. Here's my story.

1. Bought the car with a "cooked" piston. Drove it home(it was running) and performed a rebuild with the engine in the car. Disconnected battery before anything else.
Left the engine in the car and did a head job, replaced pistons, rings & replaced the camshaft with a used one from a rebuild shop. Did not touch any electrical except disconnecting the plugs from the harness.

2. Went to start the car up and there was no spark. Checked all the usuall stuff per the Haynes manual -ASD relays, fuses, cam and crank sensors(even bought new ones), everything checked out OK. The probelm was, no trigger signal from the ECU to the coil pack. Yes the wires were all OK. Didn't believe it was the ECU so took it to the dealer. He checked, found the same thing and said replace the computer. Put a used one in from the junk yard with no luck. Note that the used computer was one letter off in the part number. Half the people I talked to said you need an exact match, the rest of them said it should have worked(including the dealer). Anyways, ended up buying an exact part number match new computer thru the dealer - still no spark.
3. I kept reading about how the cam sensor/timing was not be responsible for the spark, just for the injector timing. Even if it is bad or not connected you should get some type of spark at the plugs. This is completely false!!!!! It turned out that when I replaced the camshaft with a used one, the magnet at the end of the camshaft was bad(cracked? - not sure). It wasn't obvious at all. I mean what can go wrong with a magnet?

4. The magnet was the culprit for no spark, but I still had problems after that. The car started, ran like **** and stalled and then it was back to no spark!!! This time it turned out to be the crank sensor, - went bad in the middle of it all. Engine runs like a dream now.

5. A few lessons I learned and would like to pass on: You definitely need the cam sensor signal. My big mistake was to ignore the cam magnet/cam sensor. I checked the supply voltage and wiring and they were all good. I should have checked for pulse/signal coming out of the camshaft. You can check this with an anlog meter to get the varying voltage signals, however, it would be best to check it with an oscilloscope(take to garage?) because when my crank sensor went bad, the only way we (mechanic) discovered it was by looking at the pattern of the signal. The signal was there but it was not right - you would not pick this up with a regular volt meter(analog or digital). Also, thru this ordeal, I've discovered and belive that ECU's rarely go bad on these engines.


Knowing what I know now, it's a pretty simple system and you can check it yourself with the proper equipment/manuals.

Bottom line....if you do not have spark -do not leave the cam sensor/magnet out of the diagnostic!! It cost me 8 weeks and $1,200!!!

 

Um...the cam/crank sensor is the first thing I suggest people to check when there is a no spark condition, as it acts as the HEP (or pickup plate for those of you stuck in the old days) for the computer. It basically tells the ECM which coil should fire and when....or the distributor if you still have one (like the V8 Magnum motors do).

If you had found this site, and posted about your issues, that is where I would have pointed you

Sorry it cost you $1,200. Glad you got it fixed though.