check for spark, you can pull one of the plug wires off the dist, hold it about 1/4" away with INSULATED pliers, have someone crank the car and watch for spark.

 

ok, got spark on all the plugs and the car actually started up for me today! I really dont know what changed- as far as I can tell I didnt affect anything one way or the other--? its idling rough as always- theres still some kind of problem- maybe the car took pity on me today...

 

seems i spoke too soon- it got me to work- but looks like im stuck here untill the car smiles on me again...

does it indicate, one way or another, what the issue might be, being intermittent?

 

When the car isn't starting is when you will have to determine if your problem is due to lack of fuel (carb) or lack of spark (coil, ICM, etc...).

The easiest way to verify lack of spark is a timing light. The other way is to use an old spark plug and put one of the spark plug wires on it. Ground the threads to the engine block. Have someone try to start the car and see if there is a spark firing.

It sounds like you definitely need to replace that vacuum hoses. Vacuum hoses are cheap. You should replace one at a time, so you get them routed properly.

 

the car wouldnt start again after I got to work- 5 miles from home.after taking the spark plugs out again ( it worked once!-.. or maybe just coincidence) i noticed some black carbon/junk on the two in the center them and after searching around the forums and reading all i could find have come to a tentative conclusion that its flooding- but again, i really dont know what I'm talking about.. its very possible that im going in the wrong direction..
Tried holding open the choke as a couple "car experts" suggested with no different result- cranking no firing. I had read that if you depress the gas pedal all the way and then crank the engine it would do a "flood mode" thing and reduce/stop the fuel and let the engine dry and eventually would fire- it did try once, but my battery didnt have much left and nothing seemed to come of it- i ended up towing my poor car home with a little white boating rope and a friend's pickup( scary).. he mentioned in passing though, that "once those carb things start going, you best just replace the whole thing"..granted, he may not be the most well spoken gentleman, he does usually know hiw stuff...

 

On the replacing the carburetor I totally disagree. The replacement carburetors are usually somewhat universal and take modifications to get them to operate correctly. It is always better to have yours rebuilt unless it is not repairable. Honda made their carburetor to be fixed on the car unless the idle circuit is clogged up. I used to do a lot of them many years ago. The gas tank fillers used to rust and clog up the carburetor. Black spark plugs are the engine is running rich which could be the choke is not opening or the carburetor. At the dealership I worked at we took the top off the carburetor and cleaned the passages and installed and adjusted the new floats then adjusted the mixture and that worked about 90% of the time and new gaskets.