There are tons of posibilities. Grab a multimeter and start looking for improper voltage drops or open/short circuits.

 

with the dist. cap off have someone turn the key if the rotor turns it is not the timing belt. stick a phillips head screwdriver into one of the spark plug wires and hold it close to any metal part, again have someone turn the key if you see a spark it is not the coil. make sure that the rotor is locked into place with the set screw. the only other item that could be bad as far as ignition is the igniter. take the distributor off and on the bottom side of the dizzy you will find 2 screws. take them off and you will be able to remove the little square box that has 4 spade connectors, that is the igniter. go to the wrecking yard and pull a couple out of some other cars and try it again. this should fix your problem. i had the same car but dx, it did the same thing to me. the first time it died on me was due to the set screw backed out and the dist. shaft would just spin inside the rotor. the second time it did it i thought it was the same thing but it wasn't, called honda and they told me that the igniter sometimes go out. went to the wreckers and grabbed a couple. tried one and started right up. hope this does it for you, good luck. make sure that you are getting fuel as well.

 

thanks for the help, i've been sick for a few days and didn't get to work on it til tonight. it was getting fuel, but i wasn't getting any spark from the plug wire. i'm going to say it's the coil, but could it also be the ignitor causing this. Am i better off just buying a whole new dizzy. i can get one from a u-pull-it. they have a ton of pre-92 hondas, but i don't want to just pull one and have it be bad, and at the same time, i don't want to buy one new just to find out it's not the problem

 

Is this a CRX or a civic?

 

civic

 

it might be either or, and it could be both. when i got my ingniter from the junk yard it was 3 years ago, and it is still running. just go into the wreckers and grab a coil and an ingniter. they don't cost alot, if you can walk out with them that is even better. start with the coil if it doesn's work then change the ingniter as well. you will be back in your ride in no time.

 

Hmm. Clanking sound when cranking it? That could be bad. Have an experienced tech check it out. A message board can only help so much.