Since it's my first post I want to say THANKS for all the great info here.

To the problem (and it's not my car so this will be a bit sketchy)
My son has an old honda CIVIC w/ high miles (excess of 130,000).
Lately he has had a weird intermittent start problem. Car wouldn't start after driving for 5 miles and sitting in a food store parking lot for a few minutes.. Then after some time (1/2 hour) it just started again (with the key of course ;)). Then after being parked at home for 5-6 hours it wouldn't start. 10 hours of sitting later it just started fine...
Starter turns the engine fine so it appears not to be battery/starter related.
I have to add a bit to the story to give you the whole picture. Currently it seems to be losing some antifreeze but this has been an ongoing concern and the head gasket has been replaced once already..
May or may not have anything to do with the present problem though.
CEL is not on (goes on then off as it should).
I will be getting to the "troubleshooting" steps as soon as I get the car "in hand" but this on/off situation seems just odd and does point to intermittent electrical problems. Sometimes I just wish it would just break.

Replace the Ignition Control Module (ICM) and coil:

https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/cars-trucks/faq-how-troubleshoot-repair-maintain-hondas-selected-other-vehicles-46563-4.html#post265896

This is an ideal time, while you have the distributor apart, to also replace the rotor and distributor cap.

First 2 places to check are the fuel filter and fuel pump. Lets hope it does a no start on you and then you can get to the root of it.