I am new here but have used your forum in the past for basic questions. Love the help here! but anyway...

I have a 1996 Honda Accord LX 4 door with 4 cyl and automatic transmission. My wife drives the car mostly and noticed about a month ago that when she tried to start it one morning, it was very hard to start and ran rough for a few minutes before she could drive it away. The car did not show any more problems after that moring until about 2 weeks later the check engine light came on. I checked the codes and Autozone indicated a code 0420. About the same time the CEL came on, we noticed the fuel tank seemed to have a lot of pressure when removing the gas cap. After I checked the codes, I cleared them and the CEL stayed off but the fuel tank pressure issue is still there. Now when you try to fill up the tank, the gas pump keeps shutting off due to the excessive pressure.
Well my wife had another problem starting the card again a week ago but this time it would not start at all. I was not at home but spoke with her on the phone and it was acting like it was flooded immediately after she turned the key to start it. I checked all vaccum lines for cracks or lose hoses and did not find any. I visually inspected the fuel filler lines but did not see anything out of the ordinary.
I am most concerned about the fuel tank pressure issue along with the previoius code 0420 and seemed to think there may be a problem with the catalytic converter being clogged but I am not sure if this would be causing the fuel tank pressure issue also.
I checked on several sites and even checked the links you refer to but nothing seems to show me more details or help. I also looked for the DIY section referred to in a previoius thread to test the Catalytic converter and was unable to locate it.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

The bad catalytic converter will have nothing to do with the fuel pressure in the tank.

Is the starter turning the engine when you try to start the car?

You should determine if the no start is from lack of spark or lack of fuel. If you have a timing light, hook it up on all the wires and see if the spark generated can flash the timing light.

Also, make sure that your maintenance items are up to date (distributor cap, distributor rotor, spark plugs, etc).

 

Under the car beside the fuel tank [drivers side] you will find a hose...it is the vent tube for the filler neck. You'll see it attach to a small pipe beside the big filler neck, be sure it is cleared out and air can flow.

Also there is a vent line that goes to the evap canister underhood and it could be the canister is plugged up or the vent solonoid is inop.