I have a 1998 Honda Cr-V awd with 148,000 miles on it. About two months ago I went to start my car and it started right up. I was in park for about 30 seconds or so and it just died on me. Now my friends boyfriend has been looking at it and we bought one or those repair/service manuals for my car and followed it pretty much step by step. Checked the spark plugs, timing belt, and fuses. It's not the fuel pump because you can hear it come on. Now we replaced the cap and rotor, ICM, coil, main relay, ecu, and even replaced the whole distributor and none of that worked. We also checked for codes with a sensor and nothing came up. Now, the last thing that was replaced was the crankshaft sensor and when it was put in to test, my car strarted. The weird thing is he let it run for 10 minutes since the battery was dead and when he shut it off and went to go put the car back together and then went to go start it again and it wouldn't. Now the old crank sensor had traces of dried up oil on it. We are just stumped. And it's been sitting for a couple weeks, untouched ever since. Please Help!!

Does the Check Engine Light come on for 2 seconds and then go out, when you turn the ignition switch to ON (Position II). During this 2 second interval, do you hear the fuel pump run?

Yes, the check engine light does come on for a few seconds and you can hear the fuel pump also when I go to turn my car on

And the check engine light goes off after those couple of seconds. I forgot to put that

The problem is with the distributor. Try installing your new ICM, coil, rotor, and distributor cap in a genuine Honda distributor housing--all others are junk and unreliable. Be sure you applied silicone heat transfer compound to the back of the new ICM.

We have already done all of that. The distributor I got was brand new and everything and it still didn't work. The thing was after doing all that we replaced the crank sensor and that worked. But like I said after letting it run for 10 minutes, shutting it off, and then putting it back together it went back to not starting

Was the distributor housing made by Honda, however?

A friend of mine, he mentioned something about the pgm-fi relay and is 90% sure that's what it is. Idk though. I'm getting something different from everyone. My boyfriend owns a performance shop and that's where my car is now. And we just can't seem to figure it out

Yes it was made by Honda

Since you installed a new PGM-FI Main Relay, I'm sure it's good. The Check Engine Light test confirmed that.

Remove and fully charge the battery--most auto parts stores will do this for free. Next, I would retest all under hood and under dash fuses with a test light or multimeter. After that, I would loosen the 3 distributor mounting bolts and rotate the distributor slightly counter-clockwise (CCW)--this will advance the timing. This is often necessary if the old and new distributors were not index marked, prior to removal. In other words, the timing may be too far retarded. Finally, check the ignition switch for wear, pitting, or melting.

Victory is very close!

About two years ago I had the ignition switch replaced because something had been killing my battery. They also removed my remote starter I had in it and an alarm system. But the thing is I don't know if it was a factory or aftermarket. I actually still have it in the back of my car in the truck. I don't know if this matters

That certainly complicates matters. If you had a Honda immobilizer system, the new ECM needs to be programmed the same way. That may be why it ran for 10 minutes and then shut down. Can you reinstall your old ECM, which was likely fine?

I actually returned the new ecu that I bought since it didn't help, so the old one is in there and was when he put the crank sensor in and got it started

Good. Try rotating the distributor slightly CCW. Your problem is likely something very simple and basic.

Now if it's not that simple, is it more than likely the ignition switch?

If adjusting the distributor timing and checking the under dash and under hood fuses doesn't solve the problem, I would focus on the ignition switch.