OK, I am at an end with ideas for my problem. I am sure this may be covered elsewhere in the forum, but the truth is that I have found a variety of close cases, and all of the fixes just dont seem to work. I have a 1988 Dodge Aries, 2.2L. When I purchased the car it had 76000 original miles and ran absolutely smooth. After a tune up and brake job I noticed a difference in the performance and sound of the car. It sounded like the engine was knocking, on and off. The check engine flashed momentarily but has not came back on since. It got to a point where there would be an apparent lack of power, i would need to floor the gas pedal in order to pick up speed to 25! It just sounded and ran like crap.Then it started to stall and had no power to go uphill. the last time that it stalled I could not get it started again. I have replaced the cap, rotor, plugs, wires, and coil, but now it seems like there is no spark, and there is fuel being delivered to the TBI. I checked the timing belt and it is a little worn and loose, but it hasnt jumped or broke. I have even went as far as adjusting the distributor to the appropriate TDC setting, so timing is in sync. I tested the EMS, and got a code 12, "recently disconnected battery or computer" but the computer has not been disconnected. There was some smoke that came from somewhere on the driver side by the fender while i tried to crank it over the last time, but when I went to investigate,I found nothing! The car is to the point where it will crank but wont fire. Please... any help would be appreciated.

 

Just a thought --- I believe Dodge was using the fusable links at that time. My wife's 92 Caravan had these links on the driver's side under the hood and at the firewall. They were a real b---- to get to. Check and see if these links are burned out -- that may be where your smoke was coming from. On her van there was about 5 or 6 of these links.

I hope this helps a little.