Unseasonably rainy weather was pouring rain all over the Tucson metro area in the early morning hours of the 22nd of January. The trusty 97 Accord LX 2.2l v-tech-free was speeding along at approximatly fifty five miles per hours when it encountered a weather induced puddle coving the greater part of the road... A slight smell of raw gasoline filled the passenger compartment as another half mile of road was covered under power. As soon as the accord had gained enough momentum to complete a left turn through a lonely intersection, The engine ceased firing leaving just the sounds of the tires on the road and the rain being swept from the windshield.

On opening the hood I found that the spark plug nearest the distributor had backed out, explaining the smell of gasoline. The plug looked good, but putting it in did not get the car to start.

I could find no sign of a spark coming from the coil, all, but the resistances on the coil check out with the manual. The harnessing to the ICM also checks out, with voltage where it belongs. I replaced the ICM to no avail, I don't think I can change the crank position sensor independently of the distributor, but that is an expensive next step and may not be the problem.

I'm not confident that I understand the full chain of events to get the spark to fire, I don't have a laptop handy right now, I may have to haul a desktop computer out to the garage to check the codes. Does the Engine management computer enter the loop to start the spark? I happen to have an extra one on my desk as a result of my last misadventure.

Does anyone have an idea of a likely culprit?

 

Pulled codes P0304 Cylider 4 misfire seems to makes sense with the plug having come out. Also a P1399, which seems to be a general misfire code. Not very helpful. I'll keep looking.

 

I substituted in an engine computer I had laying around from my last problem. It started right up. I'm not sure how the failure was caused in the first place. It looks like there may have been some moisture under the kickplate where the computer is, but it may have been a short externally which fried something in the computer. Made it to work this morning, 15 miles, so far, so good...