02 Accent No Start

Have had an intermittent no start with a 02 Hyundai Accent 1.5L for
about six months. Originally the problem would occur once a week like
clockwork, then went away for awhile and lost its predictability. The
fuel pump runs, the engine cranks but doesn't start. It cranks
normally, not too fast. I've had it to a private garage twice where
the mechanic thought maybe it was a bad fuel pump relay, but the
problem has occurred both with the new relay and the old relay in.
Usually when the problem occurs I can let the car set for twenty
minutes and it will start right up. This time however it has been
three days with no luck. I checked the spark this time and am not
getting any that I can feel or see. There is no distributor cap that I
can tell, the plugs lead back to two small square modules (?) that I
don't recognize. Are these coils? and is there a way to test if they
are working? Any help is much appreciated.

 

Those are indeed the coils. It's unlikely (read: impossible) that both of
them would fail simultaneously and intermittently. My top suspect (due to
lack of spark) would be the crank sensor. Is your check engine lamp coming
on? Even if not, did the garage (or anyone else) check for trouble codes?

 

I had the same symptoms and it was, indeed, the crank position sensor.