98 dodge stratus,engine light came on and it died and won't start now.What could be wrong?

When you crank the engine over now, does it sound different than before? if yes, you probably have a broken timing belt. it is also common for the cam gear to slip out of position from the cam and cause an incorrect, but hard to diagnose, timing issue. other no start with check engine light on issues could be a faulty cam or crank sensor.

pull the codes from the vehicles computer. if there is a cam or crank sensor code, or if there is a code that says in some different wording "cam sensor signal does not match crank sensor singal", first check crankshaft to camshaft timing. if belt is ok and timing marks line up then i strongly suggest removing the bolt from the camshaft that holds the cam gear on. with the bolt and cam gear removed you should be able to tell if the cam gear has rotated on the camshaft. there should be a small pin sticking out of the camshaft. if it is broken off then you need to replace the camshaft. if the pin is still there and the timing is good then replace iether the cam or crank sensor depending on what code you have stored in the ecu memory. if the code is not for the cam/crank sensor then google search the code number e.g. "p0502" and your make and model.