I have 24 hours to get my daughter's crx si running. I flew in to SLC yesterday and I fly out tomorrow. My reputation as a dad is at stake.

So far, she's replaced the coil, wires, cap, and rotor and it's definitely getting fuel. Plugs are new but have a lot of fuel on them. I verified the cam timing. When you crank it, it seems like it wants to start every few revs. The engine is properly grounded. The only thing left I can think of is the ICM, but based on what I've read, the ICM doesn't control the strength of the spark; it just turns the field on and off, which is obviously happening. Could it it be the ICM? I'd rather not troubleshoot by replacement but am running out of time.

When it died, she said it felt like it was running out of gas and so she pulled over. When she went to start it up, it wouldn't.

 

felt like it was running out of gas / at the same time you say the plugs are fouled with fuel.
Check the map sensor and iacv.
You can use a map sensor from a 92-00 civic, just plug the hose to the small nipple.. You can clean the iacv with carb clean and let it dry for a while before putting it back. the map sensor , spary some maf sensor cleaner in the hole.

Also pull the ecu beneath the passenger carpet. check the wirining pins dont have that green corossion. At this age they get it and start to not start or act up. cleaning them with a wood stick and toothbrush fixes it.
finally, yes the distributor could be dead. Put a screw driver to the wires and check for spark. hold a wrag on it or youll get shocked
It can be either the coil or ignitor, or the tdc sensors inside. Those can be replaced but just get a new dealer unit, or refurb unit.

make sure the crank is at tdc, and the cam and the ignition timing.
check your fuses and main relay, fuel psi, fuel filter

 

It's running again. It's one of those situations where something failed and attempts were made to fix the problem, that might have made things worse. For instance, the wires were replaced and the electrical connectors were not pushed through the boots far enough so the wires weren't making that metallic clicking sound that they should when pushed onto the cap. The other problem was they had tried starting the car so many times that the plugs became fuel fouled. The original problem, I believe, was the distributor cap, which I tested and replaced. It had too much resistance across the secondary terminals. That would explain the sudden loss of power and no start. But because of the plugs and the wires, the plugs weren't making a hot enough spark, even after replacing the cap & rotor. It wasn't until I replaced the plugs that it fired right up.

This is the third time in 25 years that replacing plugs caused a car to start for me. It's the first time I've seen a cap go bad.