Where is the wire that tells the ecu that ignition is on and to turn on.

[M374llic4]

My 89 had a DOHC swap, but also looks like it had an alarm once and was removed and put back together. Where is the wire located that tells the ecu to turn on?

I think mine is backwards because the ECU turns on when the ignition is turned to off, and off when ignition is turned on.

Which wires could be backwards? I am assuming it must be because of the alarm being taken out, and possibly be put back incorrectly?

[M374llic4]

Strangely the plug under the column that has the blue, white with a stripe, black/yellow, black/green and black/white plug, the side of the plug that is on the column, the wire colors do not match up with the side thats connected to the harness.

These wires were obviously cut and twisted back together on the side that is attached to the column.

When I wire the plug on the column to match the wires off the ignition the car turns over when the key is in the normal ON position, but the ECU gets power at the same time. If I wire it so that the wires match the plug on the harness, the car turns over at the start position as it should, but does not get power to the ECU when in the ON position.

[vancouverbc]

ecu is always on. the bulb comes on because it is a bulb check. ie checking to see if bulb has burned out. check the starter tutorial. its the 4th or 5th wire on ignition switch but it wont stop car from starting if it is not connected. lots of people with start button dont hook up that wire and it still starts car.

[M374llic4]

The light is not supposed to go off though when you turn the ignition on, how else would you check for ecu codes?

[vancouverbc]

The light is not supposed to go off though when you turn the ignition on, how else would you check for ecu codes?

you turn a knob on the ecu to put ecu into test mode. the light blinks out a code .

[M374llic4]

Well right, I know that, but what I mean is, it does not do that, I check power to it when ignition is on, and it does not have power on the power portion of the relay, goes from 11.6-8v to .09v or so.

[vancouverbc]

"Strangely the plug under the column that has the blue, white with a stripe, black/yellow, black/green and black/white plug, the side of the plug that is on the column, the wire colors do not match up with the side thats connected to the harness. These wires were obviously cut and twisted back together on the side that is attached to the column."

some of the wires do change colour at the ignition switch plug. test with multimeter. DO NOT go by wire colour.
Modified by vancouverbc at 2:25 PM 3/31/2010

[vancouverbc]

ALL TESTS ARE PERFORMED W/ THE IGNITION SWITCH "ON"

Mode I (Engine OFF)- Bulb Check:

In this Mode, the RED L.E.D. in the ECU and the Check Engine Light stay ON. If either remain OFF, check the bulb. Again, this is just checking to see if warning bulb is burnt out.

Mode I (Engine ON)

RED L.E.D. ON = The ECU's CPU or the Crank Angle sensor is malfunctioning.

(NOTE: Red light does not come on for any of the codes other than crank angle sensor)

**California is different. The light will be on for several of the codes in mode 1.