Rochester

My friend's accord with 110000 miles, started to just die. He had it towed
in, service changed cables, distributor head, coil and ingnoter. It still
dies when cold, goes better when warm.
I found that the spark plugs were soaking in oil. The gaskets for the plug
holes in the valve cover were leaking (some smart guy put silicon under
them). We spent hours cleaning up the mess and putting on a new gasket. It
doesn't leak. We also changed the spark plug, but yet left the ignition
cables. Could they be the problem for missing ignition?