SOHC will not start.

[Skynet]

90' hatch, sohc bone stock in it. car cranks, and tries hard to start, but nothing happens. All electric in the car works, including brights, so I doubt that it's the battery. The car died on me the previous night driving on the freeway, But once I had it towed it started up fine and drove smoothly. I was able to drive it all day today with no issues at all, but I'm now having the no start issue again. car has fuel, Fuel pump sounds like its engaging. hitting the starter does nothing.
One odd thing I noticed while looking around, the air filter has what appears to be oil, or grime on one spot of it, Near the MAF sensor, Didn't know what that would be.
I know That there are a ton of threads about this, but I didn't see anything that really pertained to me in those threads. I am semi-new to working on cars, but I know enough to get by. any thoughts you guys have would be greatly appreciated.

[future]

Your starter? Lol
Don't mean to state the obvious

[Skynet]

Your starter? Lol
Don't mean to state the obvious

No worries man, thanks for the reply. I was thinking that since it was cranking but not starting, it wouldn't be the starter? I figured if the starter was bad all i would get was a click or something when I turned the key.

[1990 sr hatch]

the starter has to jobs, 1. is to spin 2. is to engage the flywheel. easy maybe not the safest way to test both actions is to make sure nothin you dont want to hit is around you lol put it in first (will only work with a standard trans) and bump the key. if the car moves your starters good. you say theres oil in the filter near the maf i would get some maf cleaner.DO NOT USE BRAKE OR CARB CLEANER AS THEY HAVE CHEMICALS THAT WILL BREAK DOWN THE PLASTIC SENSORS IN THE MAF THATS THE REASON THE MAKE A SPECIFIC CLEANER DESIGNED FOR MAFS. that would be my best bet or buy another maf off a zilvia member theres quite a few partouts on here recently.

[Nizzan4u2nv]

Check for spark.

[Skynet]

Thanks for all of your replies, I'll test all of these tomorrow morning and post with results.

[supreme_1]

coolant temp sensor