I need some serious help here. I have a 97 honda accord sedan and it has trouble starting sometimes. it cranks and sometimes sounds like it wants to kick over but doesnt. I can leave it alone for a while and it would start later most likely. I thought it was just when the cold weather kicks in but it did it a few times when it was nto so cold. SO that made me rule out the battery. I had gotten a new battery and cables over the summer anyway. The car cranks strong and after a while you can smell the gasoline. The only conclusion i could come to was mabe it wasnt getting spark. But then i figured if it wasnt getting spark, it wouldnt not get it sometimes and get it others. Any help is welcome.

 

You need to diagnose if the no start condition is caused by lack of fuel or lack of spark; Catch it in the act so to speak....when it won't start you need to be able to test for power at the big Black/yellow wire to the distributor or coil, that proves the ignition switch is putting thru okay; next is to have an old spark plug and pull out a sparkplug wire then stab in the spare plug and ground it...crank it to see if there is spark; when you turn the key on you should hear the fuel pump run for a couple seconds... so for a no start condition you can barely open the fuel line fitting at the fuel rail to check for fuel pressure. Depending on your spark plugs you could be cranking the engine and flooding it; here's the skinny, when you jump in the car and turn the key to the crank position to make a fast getaway; the fuel injectors dribble gas into the cylinder because there is no fuel pressure to make the gas 'spray' then the plug gets wet and fouls out. The best thing to do is turn on the key..WAIT for the CEL to go off; then crank

 

Most likley your ICM (igniter) has failed. Another possiblity is your coil. Its a good time to replace your cap and rotor and do your plugs too. put a tiny bit of oil down the cylinders( liitle less than half a cap full, quart cap) to help compression. Change your oil too because the gas that doesn't start the car contaminates the oil.