I was driving to work this morning, and just before getting here, my 1997 Accord LX (2.2) died and luckily coasted into my parking lot. It's getting compression and the distributor rotor is spinning, so I know it's not the timing belt (which I just replaced). It's almost acting like it's out of gas, but it's not. The only thing that jumps out at me is what appears to be a missing wire on the distributor. All of the plug wires are there, but there's no wire on the port facing the front of the car...it's just an exposed port where there clearly was a wire at some time. I've never had distributor problems and I feel stupid asking this, but what the hell is it and what the hell do you suppose happened to my wire? Would losing this wire cause the motor to die instantly?

Here's a pic with the wire in question circled:

 

That is the ignition coil wire. Your LX has an external ignition coil.

 

Redbull is right, that goes to your ignition coil. No way your car could drive without it. Seems very odd it would just disappear while driving though.

 

Thanks, I was able to find it dangling inside the engine compartment yesterday not long after I posted. I think it popped off when I hit a pothole, which really wasn't that big at all and didn't seem like a big deal. It was weird to say the least. I'm guessing one end popped off when I hit the pothole, and the other fell off when it was dangling. Luckily it hadn't fallen out onto the road and it started right back up when I put it back on.