2003 Honda Accord
 

Hi, new to forum. I'm a novice DIY home mechanic with some basic skills. I have a 2003 Honda Accord with 180000 that won't start. Drove it into the driveway earlier this week and the next morning it didn't start. Checked it the next day and was able to get it to run for a short period but ran very rough and died upon revving the engine. No check engine light on the dash. Fuel pump is good and fuel is getting to injector rail. Have yet to check the spark plugs. A quick look on the web left me thinking either crankshaft positioning sensor or timing chain. Not sure where to go from here. Gonna check if I have spark next. Any advice would help.
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Update: checked spark- it will only spark once or not at all when cranking the engine. Checked ignition relay- works.

welcome to the forum. coil failure? my 02 civic 1 coil failed for a rough engine. just about the same milage as your accord.

v6 has a chain, the 4 banger has a belt. It very well could be a coil failuer. It could also be a slipped tooth on the timing belt (If 4 cyl). Unless there is an easier way to check timing, Remove your valve covers. Take a spark plug out and find top dead center (TDC) of cyl 1 by placing a long thin screw driver in the sparkplug hole and rotating the engine on the crank bolt by hand. As the cylinder comes down the intake valves should open. (larger valves) When the cylinder has reached the bottom the intake valves should be closed and no valves should be open when it starts coming back up. when it reaches the top again, its the compression stroke and the spark plug would normaly spark. It goes back down and as it comes up again the exhaust valve should open. (smaller valves) Then it starts all over. If the valve timing isnt lining up with the piston timing the its def your timing belt. Just in case I am wrong with anything heres a copy from an article about engine rotation.During compression, the piston moves up, the crankshaft completes half a revolution, and all the valves are closed. At the end of compression, the combustion stroke begins, with all the valves still closed, a spark ignites the air fuel mixture, and the piston moves back down; the crankshaft turns another half revolution, the camshaft just a quarter.As the piston approaches the bottom, the exhaust valves open. Then, the piston moves back toward the top as the cam holds open the exhaust valve, and the crankshaft turns another half revolution.As the piston reaches the top again, the exhaust stroke finishes, and the camshaft turns to force the intake valves open, and to allow the exhaust ports to close. The piston, moving down, sucks in the air and fuel it will use on the power stroke. As the intake stroke ends with the piston at the bottom, all the valves close and compression begins again. LIM TECHNOLOGY

If timing isn't the issue could be a cam/crank scensor.