Hello all,
I am going to tell you what is going on and what I have done so far as I am running out of options and getting frustrated. I own a 1998 Accord 5spd. Recently I blew the head gasket and the water pump was leaking. So, I removed the head, had it rebuilt, did the timing belt, changed all gaskets, water pump. Plugged everything in. Added all fluids.

When I tried to start the car:
1) dash lights were on
2) both the radiator fan and A/C fan were on (cold car) when key is on the on position
3) some functions were not working like interior fan speeds
4) When I tried to start the car, the car would not crank but the starter was whining like it was spinning but the pinion gear was not extending

So I checked all of the connections: result nothing
1) had the battery tested-1 1/2 years old came back fine
2) had the starter bench tested came back good
3) read some more on these forums about electrical issues

I had original battery cables, so I replaced them (both negative and positive)
Cleaned the contacts for the negative grounds
Tried to start today and got the same exact result: fans, lights and no crank and whirring from the starter-absolutely no change
The engine was not seized

I am running out of ideas here trying to resolve this non-starting electrical issue and really need additional ideas here. Note that I had to remove alot of stuff to do the head gasket and timing belt. It seems to me that this should be an easy fix here that I am missing.

Please help and ask away.

What ideas do you all have? Remember, there are electrical gremlins and all of this started after doing the timing belt and head gasket. Are there any sensors, grounds, fuses that would cause this issue?

 

Chasing electrical gremlins sounds like a ground issue. You got the battery cables. There are 2 other grounds to check. G101 and G2. G101 grounds the PCM to the engine block and sits below the intake air temp sensor on the upper intake manifold. G2 connects the engine bay to the engine. It is a short wire connecting the block on the driver's side in the power steering pump area to the painted sheet metal of the engine bay. This is for the 2.3L 4-cylinder engine. Let us know if you have the 4-cyl or V6, because the V6 will be different.

 

Thanks for the response. the vehicle is a 4cyl 5 speed. I found the G101 on the intake manifold. Will be cleaning/prepping that one and trying again and then will respond with the result. I already took off the G2 and cleaned/prepped that one with no change. If those do not work, hopping you will be able to assist on next things to test. Again, thanks for the help

 

Hello, I am back. Still have not been able to start the car. All the same result. However, I am getting crank but no start. Checked the distributer installed correctly (only one way in). Checked the wires and that I was getting spark. All good. Checked plugs (new) and good. So here is something that may be an issue, P01259 VTEC code. All looks to be installed correctly and wires ok. Clear the code and comes right back without trying to start(this code was not happenning before the cylinder rebuild. Only after puttng it all back together. Could the ground short be happening there? Would this cause a no start?

 

Now that the starter is cranking the engine and you confirmed spark and timing, you should test for fuel. Remove the snorkel from the throttle body, have an assistant start the car while you spray staring fluid into the throttle body. If the engine runs on its own (even poorly) then you have a fuel problem.

For the distributor, I installed my distributor 180 out of time on the previous gen accord. I had the distributor cap off to avoid installing 180 out of time and still managed to do this. I recall I thought the contact was on the narrow part of the rotor, but it was on the fat part. I'm pretty sure the key is slightly off-set on the 98 accords like my 95 accord. I just want to ensure you got the distributor installed properly, so I recommend getting #1 to top dead center and make sure the contact on the distributor rotor is pointing to the #1 spark plug wire.