Mitsubishi Repair: Car cranked but would not start, angle sensor, timing belt

Question
90 Mirage, 1.5 Automatic. About 130K miles.  With new ignition coil, distributor cap, wires and plugs still no sparks.  The input to the coil is 10.8V for switch "ON", it drops to 9.2V for switch "START".  The battery voltage is 12.5v. The strange thing is that without the coil connected when the switch is on "Start", the resistance between the positive terminal(blank) of the input and the ground is only about 7 Ohms, while it is infinity between the white terminal of the input and the ground. This means if the coil is connected, the current will be shorted from the blank terminal(positive) to ground, it will not go to the coil.

Before the problem happened, the check engine light kept ON for about two weeks and it was hard to start in the morning but it was alright in the day.  I had to crank about 5-10 times to start the car.  And finally the car died at speed of about 70 MPH and could not be started any more. I found there is no spark as described above. The timing belt was repaced 6 years ago, and it has been driven about 60K miles since then.  Does timing belt have anything to do with the ignition?

Thank you very much in advance for your attention and help.


Answer
Eric,
Your timing has everything to do with ignition.  Your car will not start if your timing is off.  Your check engine light may have come on because your cam angle sensor is malfunctioning.  The sensor may be showing a problem because your timing belt could have slipped a few teeth, causing the problems you're having now.  If your car's computer detects the timing is off (via the signal it gets from the cam angle sensor), it will not allow your car to start.  The reason why it won't start is because it could ruin your engine if it actually did.  Your pistons could smash into your valves, and you'd basically destroy the top half of your engine.

The timing belt in your car should be changed about every 60,000 miles, so it looks like you're due.  Have your timing belt changed and the timing set to be sure it's correct.  Another item you can check is actually your car's computer.  Read this article for further information:
http://www.90gsx.com/eclipse/cap/caps.htm

If your ECU is malfunctioning, that will cause all sorts of strange problems.  The most common being starting and idling.  
Good luck!