I would love to be able to say I've done the basic diagnostic stuff, but I want to be honest, so no I haven't

Here's the deal, I can definitely say it's not the battery, since I did attempt starting this with jumpers attached to our 01 Accord. There was no difference in the starter motor (still cranked fairly fast). As an old school fixit, I removed one of the smaller air hoses (not a vacuum hose) from my cold air intake and sprayed a little starting fluid into it. My thought was, if I get any reaction (coughing sputtering etc) then likely it's not getting any fuel. Well the starting fluid didn't do anything (yeah I know...DUH).

So reading the other posts here should I just bite the bullet and get a new ignition coil? Would replacing the ignition control module be far behind? Meaning if the coil has failed, how much longer can I expect the ignitor to last? I know I probably don't have to replace both BUT the car isn't at home and I need to get her started.

Thoughts?

PS This is my first time, please be gentle with me!

 

First take the oil cap off and watch the rocker arms inside while someone cranks the engine. If they don't move that means the camshaft is not turning because the timing belt is stripped.

Next you should check if you are getting sparks at the plugs. Take one wire out and put a spare plug in it, hold that plug against the engine and crank. If you don't get sparks check if 12 volts is reaching the big black/yellow wire on the distributor with the key on and while cranking. If you have voltage, distributor turning, yet no sparks, the problem is usually the coil. The ignitor doesn't need to be replaced at the same time.

Some people swap the whole distributor for a rebuilt one. If you do that, do not turn in your "core" distributor until after the new one is on the car and working.

 

Good idea re: watching the rockers after removing the oil cap , much easier than trying to wrestle off the timing belt covers, I imagine. I HOPE that's not the problem since the car was driven to current location (not at home.... of course). Also I purchased the car from a friend who told me that the timing belt was recently replaced. The car does currently have over 100k at this point, and if he was "exaggerating" then the belt could be the problem. Anyway it's worth removing the oil cap to look.

Also thank you for the pointer re: ICU (I mean "M"). I'll have a replacement coil with me tonight. I'll do the spark test and hopefully it will indicate that replacing the coil will cure my car's ills


Thanks again!

I'll post tomorrow with the results.



... If I haven't posted in a couple of days, assume something went TERRIBLY wrong with my "testing" Hahahahaha

 

mk378, you da man! Got my EX running again. Ok I kinda messed up the distributor, but it needs to be replaced any way, so I'm not too terribly upset about that. One thing I don't understand is Honda's use of steel bolts on their aluminum distributor. Yes, I sheared off the top of one of the retaining bolts....grrrr. Does any manufacturer sell the bolts with the gasket/o-ring along with the dizzy cap?

Thanks guys!!!!