The whole issue started Monday when I was coming back from a work meeting and I was cruising doing about 60 and my car died. I limped it over the side of the road(yay for no vacuum on the brakes!) and let it sit for about 5 minutes. Then I started it up and it started fine. As soon as I gave it a little gas it died again. Didn't feel like messing with it on the side of the road so I had it towed home.

Flash forward to today when I've had a chance to mess with it. I checked the usual stuff, it has spark, it appears to have fuel(also swapped out the fuel filter because I had been meaning to do that anyway). After checking the cap and rotor they looked like they could use changing. Swapped them out, also picked up a spare coil just because.. You know. Also swapped out my ignition module for a spare I had just in case.

Now the car won't start at all. It turns over and I can hear the fuel pump prime, it just won't start. But I'm pretty much at a loss. Someone pleaseeee tell me something little and stupid I'm missing to help get my baby back on the road.

well i just dropped 75 bucks on an alternator just because the little wire coming off the battery that goes to the alternator came off this morning, and when i went to start it to pull it into the shop it wouldn't start...touched that bad boy back to the positive terminal and BAM it fired up. i also wasnt getting fuel... i bought the alternator b/c i hadnt looked at it yet...

I would start by trying to narrow down the problem area, since an engine needs 3 items to run - ignition spark, air/fuel mixture, and good cranking speed.

If the engine has good cranking speed, and spark, then the problem area is air/fuel mixture.
One way to check for a problem with the Fuel system, spray some starting fluid in the Throttle Body, then crank the engine.

Just be careful, do testing outside, and have some fire suppression equipment on hand.

You do have to have a fairly good battery. The ECM needs 9 volts to run. You can see if the ecm is pulsing the injectors by putting a test light in the injector harness and cranking the engine. If it fails this test you need to run a full diagnostic on the ECM.If it runs with the starting fluid or carb cleaner then your problem is fuel related. Also look at the pick up coil in the distributor under the rotor and do the resistance test .Connect an ohm meter between the 2 terminals it should read a stead value between 500 and 1500 ohms. If it fails this test replace it.These fail frequently and suddenly. You have to pull the distributor to replace it.
After trying to start it with starting fluid;
If you have a volt ohm meter I would check the pick up coil first, since this is a simple test.
Next check the injector harness with a test light. Another simple test.
Then get into the ECM diagnostics. Not simple

You guys are awesome. Thanks for the quick responses. Had to help my sister move uber-heavy mohagony furniture up to her 3rd floor apartment... man.. That was fun. After a beer and some recovery time.. I'll head out there and work on her and pray. +'s all around.

Hate to ask a stupid question, but you didn't just pull this thing out of the garage with old fuel in it, did you? I did that with a car once, and it took a bit for the stale fuel to clog everything to hell. The car did weird things that made no sense afterwards.

Nah, it's my daily driver. 40 mile round trip daily.

dedication man, go out there with a tarp & put up a quick little tent thingie over the car... i'd do it!

Pick-up coil just tested at 900 ohms. I suppose that means it's good. Next time is to try to put some startup fluid in the throttle body. Hope the weather holds.

She lives! And runs better than ever. It appears the parts store gave me a crappy rotor and my spare ignition module was defunct. After swapping out, she fired right up nice and pretty. Woulda gone a lot faster had it not been raining so damn much..

Thanks again for the advice, those who responded.