I had a related problem with my 90 RS. One day last January it refused to start. Battery fine, turned over fine, would not fire. Had to be towed. Mechanic diagnosed a burned-out coil, replaced the entire distributor, started right up since then.
Till yesterday. No workee for about fifteen minutes of periodic attempts. I left it parked where it was and missed my physician appointment. But this morning before calling AAA for a tow truck, I thought I'd try to start it to see if I was about to make a fool of myself with the tow truck driver. Lo and behold, it started right up, no prob. So I immediately took it to the car doctor.
The mechanics suspected the aftermarket distributor they'd installed (which costs half as much as Honda's), but also tried a few other things. They replaced a relay switch and the problem seems solved again. I'll know more in the next few days, LOL. Apparently that particular relay (dunno which one) may fail to work if it gets hot, and my car had been standing for a few hours in the California sun yesterday, while this morning it was still cool. By afternoon at the mechanic's, it refused to start. Out came that relay and it works. Good old trial and error.
