Where are the ground wires on my car

Get a used spark plug and hook it to a sparkplug wire and have someone crank it over and ground the plug and see if it sparks if it don't you have a problem with the computer or electronic ignition. Or it could be that it jumped timing.

you may need to check the compression. if the plugs have fuel on them and you know the spark is good then the only thing missing for the car to run is the compression. if all the cylinders have low compression then the car has jumped time most likely.

use oven mit and pull wires off one at a time with engine running. You should hear spark jump if coil is working, and engine should start missing with wire off (ground the wire to the engine, so it doesn't shock you). If there is no spark and nop difference in how the engine runs with wire off, that coil or wire is bad.

I have changed plugs using the platinum plugs and the problem don't go away. These plugs can make a car run worse in some cases. I have found it best to use the OEM or a step above on 4 cylin and 6 cylin engines. The Plats work fine in 8 cylin engines. You could also have a bad plug wire. The plug wire could be jumping spark. At night, open the hood, start the car with lights off. Look around the plug wires for sparks jumping. If a wire is bad, the spark is leaving the wire and grounding itself to the nearest metal causing rough engine idle and misfire.

Could be several possibilities none of which I may be able to eliminate:
1. Tune-up!  You are not getting enough spark or Fuel!  Plug-wires may be cross-firing or bad ground from body to the engine - run a new ground wire to engine from battery or body-ground.
2. Replace fuel filter or do fuel pressure test to determine if f-pump is weak or lodged with corrosion or dirt particles.
3. replace plugs and wires and clean coil-pack ignition module (where plug wires originate from) use a brake-cleaner or throttle-body cleaner but be sure fumes are evaporated and dry before starting or spark could cause explosion from fumes. Oil on module could cause spark to jump.  Do not run plug wires along each other or will jump spark, wires must be crossed once or twice for prevention of this.\
4. check all vacuum lines around engine - a cracked vacuum line can cause a lot of problems.
5. injectors may be dirty or bad - easier to replace complete intake from scrap-yard then to pay $100.00 for new injectors each!
6. Coil-pack on ignition module could be cracked and may need to be replaced.
These are only possibilities of course with the little info you provided.
Hope this helps.

First check the primary (12 v ) to the coil.Next the coil center wire must have a high voltage spark to the distributor cap, if not then your coil is the problem.If you have a good sharp spark from the coil proceed to check the distributor,capacitator,rotor, points (or electronic ignition.You check the spark by having someone crank the engine while you hold the wire far enough away for the spark to jump to ground.Be careful as this is high voltage like a stun gun.Good Luck.

Check spark plugs. The back pressure may be causing one or two to fail to spark and ignite the fuel mixture. While at it go out at night and start the vehicle and watch the spark plug wires for sparking to ground. If you see a spark form a spark plug wire change all spark plug wires.

u can buy a spark tester at most parts stores. pull one wire at a time off the sparkplugs push the wire onto the tester and use the clip to ground to an exhaust bolt or any near by ground. then have someone start the car while u watch to see if there is a spark do this on all the wires to rull out no spark. You may also have a compression problem you can rent a compression tester at many parts stores as well. You screw the end in place of the spark plug turn the car over and take a reading. these cars also have timming issues becaus the timming belt is not easily accessable and expensive to have serviced every 60,000 miles. This usualy results in a cracked block.

cover the distributor cap with plastic and the high voltage coil.

with a damp environment, high voltage usually jumps to the nearest ground and would not go to the spark plug.

you can test this at night when it is damped and raining, at night, let some body start the car for you and you watch the engine compartment without light so that you can trace where the spark is jumping out.

tnx 4 using fixya,

drcool

would you know if the timing belt is broke? once the timing belt is broke, there would be no spark at all.

you can remove the cover of the distributor but make sure that the high tension wire coming from the coil is near a ground in order to discharge the spark, it will break your coil if you tried starting it with the wire away from a ground where it can jump. the high voltage would jump inside your coil and break your insulation.

after opening the distributor cover, check if the rotor is rotating. if it is not rotating, then you have a timing belt issue.

tnx 4 using fixya,

drcool