I had one strip a couple of teeth off on the '88 Escort at about 60mph several years ago. It never made any noise, I spent time checking everything else before I even thought of the timing belt. I had it towed home after I found the problem, put it in the garage lined up the timing marks put a new belt on it and cranked it up with no damage at all.

Right, but how far open? If the cam comes to rest in the middle of the scavenging-overlap period, all four valves will be open... Expensive repairs, right? Not at all - The piston hits top dead center during every single overlap period when the engine is running normally, but somehow manages to avoid hitting the valves. It's simply because the valves aren't extended down far enough to reach into the piston's range of motion.

Well...
Some older vehicles and performance applications use a larger external coil, with a high voltage cable (similar to a spark plug wire) running from it to the center rotor terminal of the distributor cap. This is not the case with '88 and newer Civics, so stating the coil is not in the distributor could seem to conflict with reality, as well as the statement that it is inside the cap under the rotor.
Further, as I already stated, the coil is above and to one side of the rotor, not under it. Stating the coil is under the rotor may cause some less experienced persons to mistake the ignitor unit for the coil.

this is an excercise in futility.

Ok, guys, no longer any need for disagreements or misunderstandings. This one has ended. All those who said it was the ignition coil were correct. Once I ruled out the main relay by listening to see if I heard the fuel pump priming after turning the key to the second position, I purchased an ignition coil for 60 bucks and began the installation. Once I took the distributor cover off, the rotor was the only issue. The screw to remove it was rotated to the left and I needed it to be top dead center in order to access it. I cranked the car a few times to allow it to rotate to the correct position. Once done I removed it. The ignition coil was sitting under the dust cover to the left, so it was inside the distributor housing. I swapped ignition coils, replaced everything, and it started right up. Tomorrow I will go ahead and replace the plugs and wires for the piece of mind.

Thanks again to everyone and all the responses!!!!

The way I used to rotate the rotor is to put the car in gear and pull it forward a bit by hand.

I don't have a rotor anymore. I converted to distributor-less ignition because Honda ignitions are just too damn unreliable.

Yes Honda makes interference engines and if you snap a timing belt you can pretty much count on bent valves, although miracles have happened...

101mpg if you only said to replace the cap and rotor then I wasn't railing on you specifically. Those are cheap parts that wear down quickly and should be replaced periodically long before they exhibit any symptoms. I was specifically recommending that expensive parts such as the coil and ignitor are not regular maintenance parts and shouldn't be replaced without first verifying that they are in fact to blame.

I disagree with the throwing parts at it until it works method. My accord was running lean, and sputtering at mid throttle. It ran fine at idle, and at 1/2 to full throttle, it had no CEL. I took it to Honda, want to know what they replaced? NOTHING!
They cleaned the EGR ports, and all was well. I traded it in at 179,000 miles, original coil, distributor, wires, fuel pump and fuel filter and clutch! The rotor and cap were changed. The car still ran like new. I try to only change the parts that are broke.

This is a great trick. I use top gear. On level ground, the car is very easy to push, and it's possible to make fine adjustments by nudging it. This trick is also useful when adjusting valve clearance.

I realize most people just replace these parts. But I think this might be overkill, kind of like the classic 3000 mile oil-change interval.

I think it's interesting that the shop manual doesn't call for replacing cap and rotor. It says they should be inspected every 4 yrs/60k miles. And then the inspection procedure (p. 23-98, or p. 1039 in the pdf) indicates that pitted terminals can be corrected with #600 sandpaper. A replacement seems to be needed only if there's obvious damage, like cracks.

I did that sandpaper thing, and I think the results were very good. The cap and rotor kit is $39 at Autozone, so I'm perfectly happy to keep that money in my pocket.

Just grab the tire, pull on one side and push on the other, much easier than pushing the car and more precise.

Works great for valve adjustments.

regards
gary