KFtransam

Bought a new opti about a week ago and finnally had the time to put It in last night, everything went fairly smooth.

The only hiccups I ran into were that I fucked up tourqing Down the water pump and the drive splines weren't lined up right when I started to tighten it up.. Realized it wasn't flush and when I loosened it up heard a loud "pop" I assumed it was the drive popping into place, but I could've cracked the pump housing. Took it back off, both ends of the drive seemed to be okay, nothing bent or broken. But now I'm leaking coolant.. That could be a hose clamp or something though, I have to go through everything and double check.

What I'm really concerned with is that it had a really choppy idle. I know I have the plug wires back on in the right order and I didn't have to force the opti into cam at all, so I'm assuming I had the splines lined up correctly.

One thing I do wonder about though, the opti came with a new plug whip and when I tried connecting it to the plug by the intake it didn't match up. It was four pins, looked the same as my old one, but the plastic "alignment fins" inside the female end didn't exactly match the male end.. Needless to say I dremmeled one of the fins off and it slid right together..

I'm wondering what could've gone wrong here and really that whip was the only thing that got kind of rigged. Almost thinking they sent me a 94 opti with a 95+ whip.

I'll be swapping the old one back in after work today to rule that out

Anyone have any other ideas? Past experiences?

Any help is appreciated

shbox

I'd first check that you got the opti indexed correctly and be sure that the plug wires are on right. The other consideration is that Chandler optis don't enjoy such a good track record.

nascarnate326

iTrader: (1)

I blamed my Chandler opti until I realized my ICM plug was the issue. It would test correctly when bent up to test it but was not making good contact when plugged in.

I wouldnt blame the opti, do all the correct tests with a multimeter to see if your getting signal to and from the opti, icm, coil, plug wires, etc. If everything checks out, then blame the opti.

KFtransam

I'm almost sure the opti's indexed correctly. If it wasn't it would not have just slid into place, correct?

I'll double check plug wires tonight just to be sure they're in order
Really hoping I didn't end up with a crap opti. I did quite a bit of searching before I bought this opti and didn't see a whole lot of negative feedback

KFtransam

Does anyone know of a decent write up on the test procedures?

SS RRR

iTrader: (2)

Any backfiring?

KFtransam

None, just a choppy idle, the throttle would snap just fine but it would have a hard time holding an idle afterwards..

Which almost seems like IAC symptoms now that I think about it..
Though, I'm hesitant to think its something other than what's directly related to the opti swap

shbox

Can't say about the sliding in place, because I have never done a spline drive opti, but I would guess that others thought they had it in correctly when in fact they did not and never noticed the effort to install it was different.

Not saying it is the opti at this point (no way to diagnose it over the internet). There are test procedures on my website.

I've seen plenty of negatives about the Chandler. The distributor for them was actually on this board for a while (until he disappeared after people started complaining).

FormulaJoe

iTrader: (5)

I used to have a spline drive on my 94 when it was stock until I did the switch to the vented style. The spline drive opti is notched, if it slid in to place easily then it is positioned correctly, only 1 way to get it on unlike a 95+ style and if it's not lined up it would be very noticeable.

As said you'll have to go to town with the multimeter to figure this one out.

96capricemgr

iTrader: (1)

leaking coolant could be making poor condition or poorly installed plug wires arc or making it's way into a poorly assembled opti..

KFtransam

Yeah I'll have to thoroughly double check everything, run the multimeter over everything, and find out where I'm leaking coolant.

I started up dry, it was running rough before anything was leaking


I'll let you guys know what I find out.. Giving i find anything at all

F0x Slaughter

To long didn't read.

I put in a Chandler and car wouldn't even fire up.
Put in an AC Delco has been great for the past 3 years.

SS RRR

iTrader: (2)

Did you at least take the new opti apart to inspect the rotor and screws/apply loc-tite to rotor screws before installing?

z_speedfreak

iTrader: (3)

Lol Chandler...they didn't hang around here very long soon as people started bitching

96z28_lt1

iTrader: (3)

this after my head cam swap i got one start on my chandler opti....

needless to say i guess with that one start i spun the bearing to the opti? if that makes sense and it was not lined up or firing at the right time causing a rough start and no throttle response. I then went with a cheap opti from oriellys for sake of needing my car to run before i trekked across country to move back home.... that one recently died out in october. I also bought one from advance before the orielly one and realized its the same exact one chandler sells, put it in and the car wouldn't even fire. Moral of the story is OE is the way to go with these optis some people have luck and most of us don't. Coolant leak could be from the bearing on the back of the waterpump also, thats where mine was leaking from when i finished putting my car back together.....

long post but i figured id share my opti experience with chandler

Quazz

iTrader: (1)

I have a chandler opti.


I actually have a spare as well. I took off the cap, locktited the rotor screws, and used hi-temp silicone all around the outside where the cap and body meet. No problems.

KFtransam

Yeah I did sure up the seal with RTV, and locktite on the rotor screws...

Turns out I didn't end up with a bad opti. My plug wires were in rough shape and I was holding out to order a set of the OTVC's so I didn't replace em just yet..

Guess i must've broken one during the opti swap. A new (temporary) set of autozone cheapo's had it running just fine threw in a coil while I was at it

Thanks for the help though guys. Always appreciate it

KFtransam

So.. Now I'm having trouble again and I'm really hoping its not this opti.

Car ran great since Saturday, and yesterday (Wednesday) on my way home from work i start to feel like I was losing power. About a half mile from home it just fell on its face, won't idle well, especially in gear. Try to give it gas and you can only get a little snap out of it before it dogs out again.

Put it on the lift, looked over the plug wires, coil, icm, opti connections, and threw the osthilliascope on it. Spark looks to be consistent. Pulled a plug and spark looks to be strong.

I was worried it was the opti wrongly adjusting time, so I threw a timing light on just to get an idea of what's going on, and the crank is dead still at idle or higher rev..

I'm inclined to think its something to do with the opti being as this is the thing I most recently screwed with, but everything I've done has pointed to something else.

When I get home today I'm going to throw in a fuel filter and check pressure at the rail. Almost seems like it's running out of fuel.

I'm kind of grasping at straws here, any one have any other opinions?

KFtransam

Another thing I question, the car runs like absolute garbage, missing and stalling. Yet I don't throw any codes?

Seemed odd so I put it to the test and pulled the wire off of #1 and ran it up to closed loop. Still nothing. The light works, just don't know how a dead miss doesn't render a code..

96z28_lt1

iTrader: (3)

when my chandler opti had its problems my spark advance was pretty normal. Get a fuel pressure gauge on it. planning of forums on how to do that.