How to fix code 15 - ignition output signal

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15
Ignition Output Signal
Missing, defective or noisy Ignition Output Signal


My ECU is throwing a code 15 after installing a new distributor. Hopefully it's just a bad connection somewhere (meaning it's easily fixed!) The explanation of the problem doesn't really help, so i figured I would ask for some help...

It's about 101 degrees out today, and the car is sitting in a parking lot... so I'm done working on it today.

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Found this on Google... leaving it here as a reference for when I get home... (at the shop right now)

[cp[mike]]

im guessing you threw a used dizzy on? sounds like the ignitor in the distributor is bad... have any extra F/H series distributor sitting around that you can pull one out of? if you pull the cap, rotor, and dust shield off, the ignitor is the square chip looking thing with the 4-5 connectors on it. check for loose/broken wires, but its probably just bad.

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Ok, cool. That's a lot easier to check than I was expecting!


Basically, this is what happened (now that I'm not sitting at my mom's boss's desk...)

I installed the used dizzy, and the car almost started on the first try. Second and third tries were nothing. Fourth gave me an idle... started at about 500, really rough, then rose slowly to about 2000, remaining rough. Then it cut off. It didn't start again after that. The car hasn't been started for about 2 weeks until today.
My timing is probably WAY off (I think I'm going to swap housings so I can retain my timing mark).

Now, the ignitor is the little white chip-like thing with the wires kinda like gummy-gelled to it? Real technical talk, I know!

I think I'm going to be bastardizing 3 distributors to create ONE good one... oh well.



Just in case, do you think that could be a sign of a bad wiring harness? Or perhaps a bad/dirty connection where the harness plugs into the dizzy? Or even a dirty connection from the sparkplug wire to the dizzy?

[cp[mike]]

Ok, cool. That's a lot easier to check than I was expecting!


Basically, this is what happened (now that I'm not sitting at my mom's boss's desk...)

I installed the used dizzy, and the car almost started on the first try. Second and third tries were nothing. Fourth gave me an idle... started at about 500, really rough, then rose slowly to about 2000, remaining rough. Then it cut off. It didn't start again after that. The car hasn't been started for about 2 weeks until today.
My timing is probably WAY off (I think I'm going to swap housings so I can retain my timing mark).

Now, the ignitor is the little white chip-like thing with the wires kinda like gummy-gelled to it? Real technical talk, I know!

I think I'm going to be bastardizing 3 distributors to create ONE good one... oh well.



Just in case, do you think that could be a sign of a bad wiring harness? Or perhaps a bad/dirty connection where the harness plugs into the dizzy? Or even a dirty connection from the sparkplug wire to the dizzy?

yep, thats the ignitor... and nothing wrong with bastardizing dizzies, i have a couple sitting on my shelf raped for random bits and peices to repair other distibutors. its possible that its a bad connection, that flowchart you posted makes me believe the 2pin connector for the dizzy is what is used... but once open, its easy to see where the wires lead. id swap in the new ignitor, and clean all of the connections and see if that helps.

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Cool. I'll give that a shot and see what happens from there. Until today, I was left with absolutely nothing, so at least I'm making progress! Thanks for the help, Mike!

[lucid]

If the dizzy in question is the one I sold you, that would suck and I would feel like I owe you something (& I would). I tested it as well as I knew how, I should have trusted my wiring more and distrusted the part. Let me know if this is the case and I'll make it right. It sounds like you've got enough parts already for your frankenstributor, but I have 2 (ext. coil) dizzies that I almost wouldn't give a crap if I threw them away. Seriously, let me know if the one I sold was junk, funk a dollar, I'm not that guy. .....and good luck, at least she stirred

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Either way, it's cool man. Hell, $40 for some parts I can use is worth it. I've got one working external coil dizzy sitting on my couch at the moment... should be enough parts to get me by. At least now I have some direction! Before today, I had no idea what was going on... no ECU codes (almost thought it was the ECU that went bad!) and no start at all.

I'll let you know. If I need something, we'll work it out.

[TypeG]

maybe you put it on 180 degrees off. good luck. later.

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I made sure the rotor was pointing the same way... I DID have to turn it a little for it to match up, but I think it was right.

When I took the old one off, the rotor was facing #4. I set the new one to #4 before I put it on.

[lucid]

You can't put it on wrong if it sits flush against the head, the tabs on the dizzy and the notches in the cam are slightly offset from center (look close). If it's on, it's on right. I'll send you the vtec dizzy if you think you can use it at all, it shorted from the insulation being cut externally. The tach started getting erratic and then it started cutting off and leaving me until I replaced it. I was going to mention something about it when I saw those notches on the JDM one, maybe you can use the good housing off this one and probably the igniter too. Cool?
It won't be long now.....

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I;m going to go recover the new dizzy from the car today... and see what I can do.

I'm going to try something stupid and replace the fried rotor on the old one with the good rotor on the one you sent me... if it's just the rotor, I'm going to be pissed! And happy...

Why does it have to be 100+ this week!

[lucid]

I'm going to ship you an F22 igniter from a known-good dizzy . It's at a friend's house who's on vacation this week. I have access to the garage, so hopefully the dizzy is in there and I won't have to wait to send it.
Who would want to go to Florida when it's 100 degrees up here

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I hear that!

Thanks man. I appreciate that.

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Ok, I installed an ignitor from my DX dizzy... that SHOULD be good, but still no luck.

The dizzy I got from lucid started the car briefly, and ran rough, revved slowly to 2000, then cut out... never to start again.

I installed the ignitor in the distributor that was originally on the car. Could the coil be bad as well, perhaps? I'm going to try taking the coil from the somewhat-working dizzy I got from lucid.

Is there anything else I could change or look for that would cause no spark and a Code 15?