Engine stops while driving, code 1, 15, and 17 thrown
 

i was driving home from work on tuesday on the highway (about 75mph) and engine just shut down. no real sputter, or jerks, it just stopped. pulled over, restarted, checked the engine bay, nothing looked bad. drove home no problems. on wed, the car shut down within a few hundred feet of the same spot as the day before on a 40 mile drive...real strange. same deal, restarted, no problems. last night i was coming home and it did it again through some neighborhoods but this time, i restarted it and it wouldn't run more than a minute or so without shutting down. it runs fine and then in a second just shuts down. the codes kicked were a code 1 (o2 sensor), code 15 (ignition system), and a code 17 (vehicle speed sensor). being all three codes at once, i figure it's something their tied to electronically.i checked the wiring schematics and it appears they are all on ground H. this is the one on the thermostat housing? i fixed that before and that doesn't have the same effects as before, ie when hitting bumps driving the car would kick on and off. it only does this after warming up. need some help bad thanks!

Re: Engine stops while driving, code 1, 15, and 17 thrown
 

post your setup. and info about any recent mods.

Re: Engine stops while driving, code 1, 15, and 17 thrown
 

the setup is basically in the info box below my posts.

92 cx hatch. z6 with 150K miles. 14b hm setup with uberdata on chipped ecu.

i put in a new distributor about a year ago. new alternator maybe 6 months to a year. no mods at all lately. it's been running on this setup for about 3 years now. until just now, it was running well.

Re: Engine stops while driving, code 1, 15, and 17 thrown
 

Check continuity and resistance between the block and the components.

Just because there's contact doesn't mean the connection is good.

Re: Engine stops while driving, code 1, 15, and 17 thrown
 

codes are always eletrical they just dont pop up. Check all your grounds/multi meter and a manual. Fix codes fix problems. Honda made it easy you just have to follow

Re: Engine stops while driving, code 1, 15, and 17 thrown
 

You can get a manual hear www.hondatech.info I would go with code 15 first the other 2 should not kill the car.

Re: Engine stops while driving, code 1, 15, and 17 thrown
 

i took it to the dealer last friday. went on vaca till wed and picked it up. they changed the main relay and tightened some of the connectors and test ran it a few times....all good. i picked it up and it shut down about 2 miles from the shop = gay. they ended up changing the wires, cap, and rotor. out of nine test runs, it shut down once so the problem is obviously still there in some form. the car will run after you let it sit for about 10 minutes then without a problem for a bit. it seems it has to be heat or run related. they said it's not sparking and their equipment's getting all pissed because the motor, ecu, distributor, etc isn't the correct match.

this is the first time in the 7 years i've owned the car that it's been in any shop. i have a "real" job now, don't have access to a 2nd car, live 380 miles from "home", and have no time to dedicate to working on it....---- my life.

if they can't get it together i'll just run up and look at it over the weekend here.

Re: Engine stops while driving, code 1, 15, and 17 thrown
 

Funny, because it's all the same electronics found on any other OBD1 Civic or Integra.

A code 15 is IGO, the ECU only throws that when it fails to see an electrical connection with the ignitor. Check the IGO wire to the dist, and the ignitor. Duh. Changing tune up gear for any of those codes is ------- stupidity, you can misfire all day on an OBD1 Honda and it doesn't throw any codes. You'd think someone who works on them all day would notice these things. :1

Strange you got a CEL 17 if the speedo has been working. UD always threw CEL 1 even when lodged in open loop, go figure.

If you repeatably and simultaneously get all three codes even after clearing the ECU, meh, this might be something wacky, but right now I'd treat it like an ignitor/wiring problem. Especially since you say you replaced your distributor a year ago, and I smell chinese reman.

Re: Engine stops while driving, code 1, 15, and 17 thrown
 

ya. they don't know which cars have what parts in general. i hate to say it, but it's just like most "technicians"....parts changers. just keep changing stuff till the problem goes away.

what's IGO stand for? the code 15 was listed as an ignition control system.

ya no problems whatsoever with the speedo lately. i guess i changed the speed sensor a few months ago. water got in there and corroded it when i drove through a foot and a half of water. replaced it and haven't had issues since.

i did clear the ecu to see if that made a difference but no go. i didn't get a honda replacement distributor. it said it was new and about $160 i think. they said they checked all that and didn't find anything but who knows.

Re: Engine stops while driving, code 1, 15, and 17 thrown
 

IGO = Ignition Output. It's the wire the ECU controls the ignitor with, and the ignitor is just a big electrically isolated cascaded transistor switch to protect the ECU from the high voltage of the coil.

I get OEM Honda parts at below the cost of most dealership employees. A bare OEM distributor housing with pickups but no ignitor and no coil sets me back $100. There is no way you got a "new" distributor with coil and ignitor for $160 unless it was chinese. Some of the chinese mechanicals do the job alright, but their knock off electronics all have an atrocious rate of failure.

Re: Engine stops while driving, code 1, 15, and 17 thrown
 

Tried 2 dist's from krargen on customers cars both failed. You have better luck buying a new ignitor or going to the jyard/ebay and buying a used dist.

Re: Engine stops while driving, code 1, 15, and 17 thrown
 

i looked back through paypal and i got the distributor for a whopping $120 shipped claiming to be a new TD-42U unit back in July of 2006. i'm going to email him to see about a warranty but not holding out much hope.

so the honda dealership just called me. ended up changing the ignitor and coil (at least i'm fairly certain both). he said both had more than usual amounts of green corrosion. not super heavy just a lot more than should be there. said they drove it over 30 miles and no stall. hopefully it's good now. their overall thought process was this: the cap wasn't airtight and allowed moisture into the distributor which overtime corroded. it got to the point where the heat and corrosion affected the resistence of the system and that's why it crashed. i'm still trying to figure out why they went with the main relay to begin with and were so sure of it. especially if they checked the distributor and coil and they were ok then. he was also saying a coolant hose was real close and touching the distributor which also didn't help. all that was stock on the motor swap so i'm not sure what he's talking about there.

overall, he's only charging me 2 hours of labor for both fixes and parts. a total cost of about $550 which for this long at the shop is quite amazing. i think the service manager feels pretty ashamed his guys had this hard of a time and i picked up the car only to break down 2 miles later.

Re: Engine stops while driving, code 1, 15, and 17 thrown
 

If that 550 includes parts, that's a pretty damn good deal. Pricey to the average HMTer, but fair as shops go since you got a lot of OE parts.

Re: Engine stops while driving, code 1, 15, and 17 thrown
 

ya that's all said and done. 2 hours to diagnose and change the main relay was like $270. the second round they changed the wires, rotor, cap, ignitor, and coil for $280 which he said was parts. either the ignitor or coil was one they use to test in the shop and they just gave that to me so the cost isn't for both new. at least that's an oem part. from what it sounds like, they spent the last two days handing it off to people to try so there had to be a bunch of hours in there. not sure how many quality ones though.

more money than i want to spend on it now. just trying to pay off $50k in school loans and keep the car a few more years till then. i may or may not make it though.

thanks for all the help JD. i'll let you know how it goes.

Re: Engine stops while driving, code 1, 15, and 17 thrown
 

i'm hesitant to say this but so far so good. no issues experienced as of yet.

Re: Engine stops while driving, code 1, 15, and 17 thrown
 

Glad to hear that... if the problem was pretty persistant, going this long without a problem means it's fixed.

Re: Engine stops while driving, code 1, 15, and 17 thrown
 

so to sum it up it was the coil, or the the ignitor?

Re: Engine stops while driving, code 1, 15, and 17 thrown
 

This is funny because I had virtually the same problem at the track last week. While idling in the staging lanes, it would just cut out, sometimes throwing a code 15, sometimes not. It even cut out after my burn out, and I couldn't get it started that time, which sucks because I sat through 100+ cars for nothing..Letting it sit for a small bit of time remedied the problem. I jiggled the wires and the problem went away. I'll keep this thread in mind if the problem persists.