henry172

iTrader: (2)

For some reason my motor kicks back and fights against the starter with NGK iridium spark plugs. I went ahead and changed the plugs to copper NGK's and the motor no longer kicks back against the starter. It was fighting the starter to the point that it even broke a starter into pieces. I was told the opti is the problem, but why doesn't it do it with the copper plugs? The opti is a MSD unit with under 4k on it, do you think this is the problem?

jay7199

iTrader: (9)

I dont understand.. what does "kicks back agaisnt the starter" mean?

96capricemgr

iTrader: (1)

The MSD unit is garbage and probaly will cause you problems at some point BUT the "kicking back" problem sounds to me like you maybe mixed up the firing order when you put the wires on the iridiums and then fixed that when you put the copper plugs in.

RamAir95TA

iTrader: (2)

Definitely a mix-up of firing order, no bones about it.

defaultexistence

iTrader: (11)

^^^What Joe said

henry172

iTrader: (2)

The plug wires were on correctly; it also did this when this motor was in my other car with iridiums, I installed new iridiums and wires when I swaped the motor into my Trans am and I still had the kick back. But Today I got my answer; I have also been feeling a really slight miss at idle, today I decided to run the carp out of the car. I went wot a few times then went down the freeway for 30mi slowing down and speeding up; then when I exited the freeway and went wot one last time I got my answer. The car finally completely died on me; I have fuel, but I have no spark. So now all I have to do is fix it and I should be good to go. Now I took the coil wire out from the opti and pointed it close the the TB; no spark is exiting the coil. Would a bad opti cause the coil not to fire at all? What could cause the coil not to fire?

RamAir95TA

iTrader: (2)

If the PCM doesn't see the low resolution pulse from the optical sensor, it won't send the signal to the ICM to fire the coil.

henry172

iTrader: (2)

Ok I think this just might be the problem; the opti is a MSD with under 2500mi on it and just over 1 year old. I am going to try this site to diagnose it http://www.mainstreamtopics.com/foru...p?showtopic=78. If it is the opti I think I will be installing a LTCC setup; the efi connection setup is just too high in price and will require a retune.

RamAir95TA

iTrader: (2)

The LTCC won't fix your problem. You still need the high and low resolution pulses from the optispark. The LTCC only replaces the high voltage portion of the opti (the cap and rotor). It is not an optispark alternative. The only TRUE alternative is the LSX conversion, which is around $2000.

The earlier MSD optisparks seem to be riddled with problems, so don't be surprised if the MSD is the culprit.

I would just recommend a replacement AC Delco optispark.

henry172

iTrader: (2)

Yes I know I will need a new opti also. I am not sure what I am going to do yet, I know I can't run the oem opti with the oem cap and rotor; I had two oem optis fail due to the rotor exploding. So If I go with a oem opti I will also need a msd cap and rotor, or could I just use the one from my MSD unit with less than 2500mi on it. After I diagnose the car I am going to give MSD a call and explain that it is over the one year warranty, but only has 2000mi on it.

hitmanws6

iTrader: (20)

Just buy a new opti and if you must use the MSD cap and rotor. Also your plugs did not cause your starter to kick back. The only thing you pay for with Iridium/Platinum plugs is longevity, they last longer than Copper

henry172

iTrader: (2)

I diagnosed the car today and I have some good news. It was not the opti, it was a blown ignition fuse. I had my electric water pump connected to the hot wire for the ignition fuse under the hood; it was sucking up too much power from the ignition causing my problem at idle. I am going to install a switch for the water pump and its own separate power supply tomorrow; this should solve all of my problems.