No spark, help!

[Steve '92ES]

Hook it to the sensor wire and the ground and pass a piece of metal through it.

He has a '91, so he has the older style sensor driven off the cam. Nothing to "pass a piece of metal through" on those (I believe they're optical anyway). You could do it by taking the sensor out and spinning it by hand but then you have to make sure it's aligned correctly when you put it back in.
What I find easier is to tack solder a couple of test wires to the back of the pins on the ECU connector. Hook everything back up and run the wires back out to where you can reach them. With the meter (-) connected to ground and the meter (+) on one of the two signal wires you should be able to see a pulse while cranking. (Of course you will need to test both signals, one at a time)
Looking at my '91 diagrams for the SOHC engine you'll need to tack wires onto:
Pin 106 (ground)
Pin22 (Top Dead Center)
Pin 21 (Crank Angle)

When you're done be sure to remove the wires or insulate them well so they can't short out.

If you do find a problem you might try cleaning the sensor before shelling out for another one.
Like I said I believe they're optical so any crud buildup could be causing it to fail. A good douching could save you $400...

[DeadOhioSky39]

Found out today that the timing belt is broke. I'm guessing that if i replace that it will start running again but probably still have the not idling/check engine light on decel problem.

[OhioSpyderman]

Found out today that the timing belt is broke. I'm guessing that if i replace that it will start running again but probably still have the not idling/check engine light on decel problem.

SOHC (non interference)?

If not, you have more issues...

Bob.

[DeadOhioSky39]

Yeah I believe it is non-interference thankfully. The belt looks in good shape so I'm actually surprised that it broke. We noticed the rotor wasn't turning when the motor would crank over. Take the timing belt cover off and voila. I'll pick a belt up tomorrow and see what happens.

[DeadOhioSky39]

Got the belt water pump and pulley, going to see if grandpa has the tool to hold the crank to get the crank pulley off (he retired as a chrysler mechanic and has more tools than anyone I know). Then we can get the water pump off and start putting things back together.

[DeadOhioSky39]

Got everything back together and it started right up. It still won't idle after it gets warmed up though. I haven't driven it yet but for a long time before the belt broke it wasn't idling, the check engine light would come on under engine braking from maybe 3 down to 2k rpm and then go off, and sometimes a little backfire through the exhaust. Any ideas what would cause this?

[CoreyB]

Check the specs on the engine coolant temp sensor. Thats a likely cause.

[DeadOhioSky39]

New plugs, wires, and temp sensor. The check engine light isn't coming on anymore under engine braking but still won't idle after it warms up.

[CoreyB]

If you turn the wheel or turn the AC up do the RPMs rise ? If not the ISC is bad.

[DeadOhioSky39]

We might have a winner. According to the 316 site the resistance across the pins should all be between 28 and 33 ohms. It was 27.5 between pins 4 and 5 and 14.3 between pins 5 and 6.
http://www.stealth316.com/2-isc-iac.htm