I've got an Orion with a S2 inside. A few days ago I was driving it and all of a sudden it died. I could hear the engine revving but I couldn't accelerate, the rev counter marked like it was switched off. The car wouldn't start. I could hear the fuel pump prime, the engine sounded to have good compression but there was no spark. So the problem was that there wasn't any current coming through.

When it is left to cool down a bit it would start again. It did it again but not always. It might do it, leave it to cool, start again and doesn't do it again. Seems to be an intermittent problem. A friend of mine had the same problem on his Escort Mk1 with BDA engine and he found out it was the coil failing.

My engine has been re-built very recently. I've got no immobiliser. The rotor arm, dizzy cap and ht leads are all new. The coil is also new. I had bought it from Burton. They suggested me not to buy the Grp A coil as this would give some sort of problems with a particular sensor. They gave me one from Intermotor instead but to be honest I don't like it that much especially between 6k-7k revs. Now I bought a Marelli Grp A coil from Woodford Garage to see how it will go, it should arrive very soon. But still not sure if this will solve my problem.

What do you think guys? I really need help. Intermittent problems are the worse to find their cause