My son called this morning. The 94 EX I gave him would not crank this morning. He says when he turns the key to start, the dash lights start flashing on him. Not sure if this has a factory or aftermarket alarm, or even if the alarm is the problem. There is a little toggle switch underside the steering column and a red flashing led in the dash. I never used the alarm all the years I had it. Any idea?

 

With the switch and light yo mention, it is an after market alarm. But I don't think that's your problem.

With the dash lights flashing, it sounds like a flat battery. Has he tried getting a jump?

 

Alarm should not cause this issue. And if the LED is flashing, that means it is in active state. I wonder if the car has an aftermarket immobilizer, but as stock, it should have come with alarm and remote door lock only.
When he tries to start, is there any clicks, or any crank?
If there is no click, I would say check the PGMFI fuse under the dash and the big ignition fuse under hood. It may be caused by faulty ignition switch or ignition coil. So if the fuses look good, I would check the ignition switch and ignition coil.
If there is a click, then it might be battery. Clean the battery posts and also try to jump start.

If there is crank, then I would check the spark plugs, spark plug wires and continue to distributor.

I have had this issue a couple of days ago with no click no lights on the dash. And turned out to be the issue from blown PGMFI fuse.

And I also had crank but no start issue a couple of weeks ago, turned out to be the distributor.

If you could describe more symptoms on this issue then the forum can help you with tons of information.

Good luck.

 

Okay, he got it started by, turning the key to the "on" position, flipping the little toggle switch, then key off, key on , toggle back the other way and start, Thanks all.

 

It sounds like something was up with the alarm. Hopefully it was a one time thing, because a bad alarm control unit can cause all kinds of weird problems.