98 Honda accord lx, recently purchased from a friend. Engine caught fire. Destroying the harness, distributor, and multiple sensors.
Curious if anyone has any theories, the main damage was under the distributor, and next to the egr. Or first fuel injector. Just got a junkyard harness, 2nd clutch switch, knock sensor, pressure switch, vrec pigtail, throttle body cable mount, and fuel rail and injectors. Having a little issue with the new harness not having a coolant temp sensor plug, 2nd clutch switch plug, or whatever the single wire temp sensor next to the knock sensor is. So I was able to peel back the loom and found what I would think to be those sensor wiring, and comparing to a wiring diagram. I’ve got most of it wired in with new plugs. I’m curios though. 2nd clutch pressure switches, are single wire correct? And should I sorry about it catching back on fire?

 

Idk that I will very much help as I don't have an Accord new enough to have these clutch switches.

From what I know about sensors. If it has a metal housing, 1 wire would work as it uses it's own housing for the ground.
If it is a plastic connector/switch and not bolted directly onto the engine/trans (on a metal bracket), I would think that you would need 2 wires.

Idk that you can determine how the fire started until it is close to running. Was it an O ring leaking fuel? Oil dripping onto the exhaust?
How about the starter throwing sparks, then it drove down the road getting wind on the smoldering area and ignited?
Perhaps just a good pressure washing is all it needed to prevent the fire.

I think when it is running, Just watch for problems, have it run for a while in the driveway with the hood up. Have your first few trips be short and keep checking on it.

 

So I got the harness finished and it runs. But before that I went to the junkyard and pulled some newer looking injectors, fuel rail, fuel pressure regulator, and a distributor cap. Since the other one melted pretty bad. At the moment it surges or falls on its face when you give it throttle. So I’ll start with the fuel system and replace fuel filter and go from there. The fuel pump has already been changed, and I personally cleaned the throttle body.

i also noticed the harness is missing a single wire oil pressure switch. I think it’s a yellow green wire. But I could be wrong. It’s the switch next to Engine Temp Sensor, under the distributor. I cut back the harness and tried to find it but no luck.

 

98/99 harness is different from 00-02.
Later models integrated the divorced dash and PCM sensor into a single sensor.
There may be other differences as well.