cold starting

[NoJoke15o]

alright, let's start with this is not my car, but instead my brother's, who lives about 1300 miles away from me. it's a 1993 SE if I'm correct (3300 SFI engine, know for a fact). I get the call that it's not starting in the cold. So over the phone I walk him though the car. He says there's a smell of gas and he hears the fuel pump's "hum", so I know he's getting fuel. Then I had him pull an ignition wire off the spark plug and put in a spare, he said there was no arching. So we have fuel, but no spark. Next day (when it was a lot warmer) the car started up like nothing had happened. No check engine light or anything. Few days later during the night it got cold and back to the same problem. Any thoughts on if coils are known to cause this? Or perphaps something else? anything you guys can think of will be helpful!!

P.S. He's not the birghtest bulb on the tree when it comes to this so simple tests might be best. thanks

[Brandon]

wouldnt be the battery itself, would it?

[cocobob]

A bad coil or coil connection to the coil on coil module.

Cheers

[NoJoke15o]

An update! alright I found that only 4 lines off the coils were putting out when the problem happens. After installing a new set of coils, the problem remains.... I only had a limited time with the vehicle so further fault tracing couldn't happen. So what's before the coil on these that would cause this problem? The battery is good.

[Matt95GT]

Did you check out the crank position sensor at all? You'll get no spark if it isn't working.

[NoJoke15o]

another update!! alright, after a little guessing, a new crank position sensor was installed; and oddly enough a new IAC sensor also made it was onto the engine. The car worked great for about 3 days till (on christmas of all days) the car died while slowing down at a stop sign. The engine almost sounds like it's spinning too fast, but I don't know if that's related. I know these have a problem with ignition sensors, so might that be something to look into, or would that just not allow the engine to crank at all... thanks so far guys