Hi,

I've offered to sell my friend's 1990 accord since he needed to leave town. It sat for a year and he told me it needed work but when I got it home, after charging the battery, it started right up and ran beautifully. I drove it 4 times after that with no problems. After washing the car to get it ready to sell, it would no longer start. It just turns over.

Yes, it has gas.
No, I didn't wet the distributer or anything in the engine compartment.

I removed the distributer cap just to make sure it wasn't wet and it was not. There was just a little oil pooled at the bottom of the cap which I wiped clean.

I removed the spark plugs and I could smell gas on them so I think it's getting fuel. I touched one of the plugs to the chassis while turning the car over and there was no spark. Tried spark plug number two, same thing. No spark that I could see.

I'm not too familiar with this Accord and would appreciate any tips on where to look. I can't even find the coil. At this point, it seems like an ignition problem. I'm not sure what to test from here. All the fuses look good and there's no check engine light.

Thanks in advance!

 

Anyone? Just trying to keep this thread alive.

Any help on how to test for a bad igniter or coil would be helpful.

Thanks

 

Oil in the distributor cap would mean that the seal on the distributor is bad. The seal can be replaced. The procedure is kind of a pain.

Does this car have an internal or external coil?

Have you checked for error code(s) for the engine or transmission computer? The 1990 has the service connector like the 1991 accord. Read the thread called How to get CEL codes in the Do-It-Yourself forum.