So heres the problem, I have an 88 4 door with an a6 swap and it has been running fine for weeks now up until the other day I drove it outta town and back about 400 miles. The next day after I got home it wouldnt start. I pulled the plugs and they smelled like fuel, Im thinking lack of spark maybe? So this is what I have done- replaced cap, rotor, plugs, checked all fuses, verified that starter is indeed turning the motor, and fuel pump is working. What am I missing? where is my lack of spark or does anyone have any other ideas what it may be? Thanks in advance

 

I'll throw out an idea....something similar happened to me.

First bought my 4dr, drove it from NJ to KY nonstop, about 10 miles from home it just quit on me. Would crank & crank, but not fire back up. Turns out that the bearing in the distributor seized somewhat (I assume from extended heat from the long trip). The distributor shaft still turned by hand, but it was jerky, not a fluid motion.....might be worth checking

 

thanks for the input Im gonna check that out

 

Could be coil, or igniter. Im going with igniter

 

noob question is the igniter the black box inside the distributor?

 

That`s the coil. The igniter is in a little farther in the base. It has four wires going into it, unhook them and take out the two 8mm screws that holds it in place.

 

the coil can be tested with a digital multimeter, the igniter is a little harder to test, if you had a extra one just pop it in. When you remove the distributor cap there are four wires attached to a little square box(almost the size of a book of matches), two screws hold it in they are on the outside of the distributor on the side
of it. If you have no spark at all, test coil very easy to do,them look at igniter. Very common to go bad on hondas.
good luck colnago

 

Thanks for all your help guys