Hello,

I've looked at quite a few posts plus I've read, re-read and read
some more of a Haynes service manual and am about at the end of my
rope. Thanks for any help you can offer.

Here's my story:
I drove my 93 civic to work  last week and at lunch it wouldn't
start. It would turn over but that was it.

I had it towed home and a friend came over and we checked a few things.
The timing belt seems to look fine. We unscrewed a vent type of nut
from the top of the fuel filter and turned over the engine and gas was
coming out.

Then we checked for sparks on the wires. We didn't have any sparks.
So we started looking at the distributor.

We couldn't see anything obvious so I picked up a ohmmeter/voltmeter
and tested the coil. It seemed to fail the test the book mentions so I
bought another coil. Also, I bought new plugs, new rotor and new cap
and fuel filter (they haven't been replace for too many miles
anyway). I installed all of the above stuff I bought and the car still
won't start.

The sound it makes now, after the new coil, rotor & cap are installed,
when it turns over is a bit different. Sounds like it almost wants to
catch, but doesn't. I checked 2 of the wires (1 & 2) and they both
have a spark going to them. One thing I want to check is to go ahead
and check the other 2 wires. But my guess is that they are fine too. I
say this because I checked the resistance of the wires with my new
ohmmeter and they seemed to check out; that's why I didn't go ahead
and buy new wires.

But the big problem is: the car still won't start!!

So, is it something maybe with the fuel too? I can hear the pump kick
on when I turn the ignition switch on and fuel comes out. One test in
the book says to attach a fuel pressure test kit and test for pressure
(but that's another $30 and 3 hours of time).

I still haven't checked the ICM, but could the distributor be
producing a spark to the wires without the ICM working correctly? As it
stands it seems like maybe I should take back the new coil and get an
entire distributor and put the new one in and see if that would work.
The one in there now is also a replacement I had put in about 3 years
ago. It's one from a 95 honda civic.

At this point I'm ready to go ahead and let a shop look at it. I let
a friend talk me into trying to get it started at home but it's been
over a week since it broke down and I have a spare vehicle to use to
get around but I need my work car back. I'd rather learn to fix it
because it's totally paid for and I would like to continue using my
beloved honda as long as possible.

The car has 196,000 miles or so.

Thanks for any help you can give to save my sanity and get my car
fixed.

P.S. This is also posted in rec.autos.tech group