I have a 1988 CRX SI here Im working on that is throwing a code 15.The car was brought to me wihtout a engine in it and I installed a ZC sohc non vtec I had here as well as a tranny and a bunch of other stuff.The car prior to coming here had some starting problems as well as dying out occasionally while driving.I installed the engine a good harness and distributor.When trying to start the engine it just cranks over and throws a cel [code 15] after 5-10 cranks.I tried two known good distributors and twp known good ecu's to eliminate those out of the system.Thsi car has a alarm that someone installed and had a kill switch built in as well.The manual says for 88-89 you need to bring the car to a Honda dealership to have the igniter checked via the ecu diagnostic harness.Anybody have any ideas as to what is going on?

Edit- Also main relay is good and there is no power at the 2pin connector on the distributor with the ignition switched on.Im assuming there should be 12 volts at the black yellow terminal.So im thinking maybe there is a short in the wire somewhere?

 

Hmmm, odd. Yes it sounds like there is a wiring short someplace. I broght my distributor to Autozone to have them check out the ignitior and everything since I didn't have a multimeter at the time. It's free for them to check but I have a feeling somewhere the wiring is messed up. You say it's a good harness, was it modified in any way to run the MPFI system or is this s straight harness out of the ZC?

 

A test light (or powered test light) is a very handy tool for finding stray grounds...

 

Got it figured out.I spent a hour under the dash tracing/removing shitty wiring from a real hack job alarm/kill switch setup.They had a remote kill switch wired through the ignition output signal wire from the interior fuse box.The car had been through two shops to have the mystery problem fixed including a local Toyota dealership who charged $500 to tell him he needs a new interior harness