Why won't my 95 Acura Integra Start After Disconnecting a Spark Plug Wire?

[pablop]

Hello everyone, my Integra had the check engine light on and the muffler smelled of unburned gas. The car had loss of power and idling rough, so I suspected one of the spark plugs was not firing.

In addition, sometimes the car would start and sometimes it wouldn't after cooling down in freezing weather... when it wouldn't start, the engine wouldn't crank and not a sound would be heard, but the dashboard lights would come on and the battery was fully charged. After running the car and warming up, it would start much more often on the first try at turning the key.

In order to find which spark plug was dead, I started the car and with the car running, I removed one of the spark plug wires from the valve cover, which made the car turn off immediately.

I reconnected the wire and went to start the car again, but it never started again! This time it cranks (engine turns over) every single time (unlike before), except there is no start.

I towed it to the mechanic and they diagnosed a bad distributor. They're asking $400 for parts and labor.

It would seem to me that either the Top Dead Sensor or the Camshaft Position Sensor is failing, but they want to replace the whole enchilada.

Any ideas on why unplugging the wire while the car was running made this car not start anymore?

Thanks in advance for any info.

 

[whyamIhere1]

idk but you can pull a plug,keep it in plug wire and turn it over to see if you have spark.Did you check LED light on ECU under carpet on passenger side floor board to see if you have a error code.Just turn key to run with out starting and count flashes.example:4 long and 3 short is 43.