Honda Repair: 1989 Honda Accord not starting, spark plug wires, accelerator pedal

Question
Hello and thank you in advance for your help. I have a 1989 Honda Accord with duel carbs and Hitachi distributor. I have owned the car for about four years and always enjoy driving it. The car has been acting a little strange for the last year or so, and in retrospect, I should have addressed the problem sooner. First, it has always been a little hard to start, especially this winter. But I'd press the accelerator pedal down and then it would start no problem. Probably normal for an older car I though. The second strange thing, is that when I was driving down the highway and put on my signal to exit off the offramp, the car would simply die. No electrical, no motor, just nada. I would press in the clutch when this happened and turn the ignition and viola. This problem has only happened a handful of times, so i thought it was probably a short.

A week ago, i wake up to go to work and the car isn't starting. It's turning over, but not going. Maybe the batteries going I thought, so I took the wife's and put the battery on the charger. When I get home I try again, but no luck.

I can hear the fuel pump coming on and have confirmed that fuel is getting to the carb. I have spark from the coil to the distributor and I have confirmed voltage at the distributor from the battery. All spark plug wires and the coil wire check out for proper resistance. The coil is ok with proper voltage and resistance. I have replaced the distributor cap and the rotor with no luck. I have confirmed that the rotor is turning when I crank the engine with the cap off. There is no spark at the spark plug wires with my spark tester.

So what else is left? I have an ignition module on order. Do you think this is the likely culprit?

Answer
Steve, considering your Accord probably has 150K+ on it I would assume it is time to have those carbs rebuilt, cleaned properly and tuned to your cars performance. Why, you ask? These carbs are notorious for not enabling choke upon first fire-up after sitting for a while. Your fuel filter should be replaced too. Considering the price of gas these days I am sure you do not fill it up with Premium from Chevron every time. Also running a gas additive once a month will maintain proper cleanliness in all the fuel lines, tank, etc. (Remember these are just suggestions not requirements and i always start cheap, hence, the fuel filter and air filter replacement first.) You can take this to the dealer for the Carb replacement (expensive) or try a performance specialist shop. And if you are feeling froggy purchase them directly from Japan and do the install yourself. Remember these carbs from Japan will only have 40K on used sets so definitely worth the investment. Plus they will give you added performance since they are larger and less restricted.