I have a 1998 honda civic ex 1.6l vtec shoc that i changed the spark plugs, cap, rotor, wires and air filter on and when i was finished i started the car and it ran better than it has in a long while but it only ran for maybe 1:30 and then died as if the key was turned off. smooth with no dieseling. now the car won't start and has a smell of gas. is there a way to test the ignition coil by removing a spark plug and attaching it to the wire so that can see if there is even spark getting there? i've put the old cap, rotor, and wires back on the car and it had no improvement. the car has almost 300,000 miles on it and has been kept up on maintenance for the most part never going very long.