Are the new plugs gas fouled? Does the oil smell of gas? The borderline compression makes me wonder if the oil has a lot of gas in it.

 

I can smell gas on the plugs, yes. I have not smelled any gas in the oil. Haven't seen any sign of coolant in the oil either. At this point, I'm leaning toward timing issue or my ECM has taken a crap. I have found remanufactured ECMs on eBay for around $50 so if the timing issue doesn't pan out, I'll grab one of those ECMs. I have already taken the ECM/TCM out and checked them over and didn't see any visible damage to either unit so I'm not sure.

One important item I left out is that the prior owner had installed a push button start when the ignition lock stopped working. The car was running fine with it but I didn't like the button or its placement so I got rid of it, replaced the ignition lock and removed a ton of wiring from the lower left kick panel area that was not connected to anything. I think at one point it had an alarm or keyless entry installed because there was an old horn attached to the firewall next to the fuse box. The wiring in the kick panel was a mess and had all kinds of junk in it from using speaker wire to splice sections of wiring, splices held together with just small bits of tape, those ****ty crimp on wire crimps and other random ****. I removed the majority of that wiring tracing it back to where it spliced into factory wires/clips and threw it in the trash.

One thing I did notice is the fuse box panel had a cutoff switch installed on it, basically hidden in that little valley on top of the cover just above the hood release handle. One side was attached to ground but the other side of the switch, the wire was just loose not connected to anything. I hope they didn't cut a main wire and splice that switch in place and now I have an important wire somewhere not providing ground like it should. I'll try to take a pic and post.

 

I wouldn't condem the ECU yet. You run the risk of installing a new part that doesn't work and can complicate troubleshooting. In your first post, you verified spark to the plugs, but the strong smell of gas has me leaning to missing spark as your issue. I'm assuming you saw a spark jump the gap with a plug grounded to the engine and having an assistant turn the key? If so, then the ECU is likely working properly.

Sounds like you haven't yet verified the 1342 spark plug firing order or that the distributor rotor contact is pointing to the the #1 spark plug wire post when the engine is at TDC.

As for that tab, don't worry about it. I'll assume that distributor housing is made for a bunch of hondas, so something like a ground or a harness bracket may connect to it on an older Civic, but I don't recall anyting on the 90 accord connected there.

 

I have used a spark tester plugged into spark plug 1 wire and saw a nice long spark. I also tested with the spark plug plugged in and touching the ground where the ground wire is on the valve cover and saw a nice bright spark in the plug as well. I have only been checking spark at cylinder 1 but I figure the others are probably working as well since I have new plugs and wires installed. I haven't checked the rotor is pointing at wire plug for number 1 at TDC yet. Will be working on it again this am after work and when the rain stops. Thanks for your help. The distributor I replaced with is a remanufactured Cardone unit.

 

Sitrep fellers. Today I double checked timing. I set cylinder 1 at TDC and checked the rotor on the distributor. It was pointing right at cylinder 1 spark plug port. Crank no fire still. My plugs are very smelly of gasoline. They are not soaking wet but they are getting gas into the cylinders. I reset my ECU and afterwards put the paperclip in the service port and put key on position 2, the check engine light stayed on solid forever. Never blinked or anything. Does that mean my ECU is fugged? The red light on the ECU and TCU visible in the little round window didn't blink at all either. Neither one. I checked spark again and still spark is there. I then pulled the plugs and checked compression. Here's the outcome of that. It's not good. I think compression might be my issue since I have fuel and spark and correct timing and firing order.

Cylinder 1 - 70 PSI
Cylinder 2 - 48 PSI
Cylinder 3 - 65 PSI
Cylinder 4 - 72 PSI

Damn. What should my next step be? I did also notice that when I removed the plugs I can turn the engine manually using the power steering pulley but before a full rotation is complete, the engine gets hard and the power steering pulley turns but doesn't turn the belt. Slips. I have a remote starter button that I can connect to the starter solenoid wire to bump the engine which is also how I was checking the compression. I put the compression tester hose into the spark plug hole, connect the gauge and start it using the remote starter button for about 10 seconds on each cylinder.

Now I'm worried that I may have a toasted engine with such low compression numbers.

Ideas? Thanks again for y'all's help.

 

To do the compression test, you need to pull the fuse for the fuel pump, then push the gas pedal to the floor and crank the engine. This gets max air into your engine for this test. The numbers you got are likely very low for this reason.

 

Ok I'll try that. Is there a separate fuse for the fuel pump besides the main relay? If I remove that my ignition switch isn't going to spin the engine is it? Thanks.

 

There should be a separae fuse in one of the fuse boxes for just the fuel pump. I think it is in the engine bay fuse box, but I'm not 100% sure.

 

Fuse 3 (15A) in the dash panel fuse box lists power to the fuel pump. I'll try that. If not, I can just disconnect the injectors right?

 

These compression numbers are not going to change much with holding the gas pedal down. Put oil in the cylinders to determine if the issue is rings are valves. You don't have enough compression to start the engine.
Cylinder 1 - 70 PSI
Cylinder 2 - 48 PSI
Cylinder 3 - 65 PSI
Cylinder 4 - 72 PSI