t/afrom504

when its cold in the morning, i have a hard time starting my car. it takes damn near 10 times to crank it in order to start! but when im trying to crank the sucker it sputters, backfires, and smells rich! And most of time while im cranking, it acts like it wants to turn over but the engine starts to knock then dies again...repeatedly until it turns over....what is the problem? also i have the p0300 code

LT1SS

the code is for: "direct misfire detected". which probably means you have a bad opti. they usually go bad around 100,000 miles

t/afrom504

i figured that!!!

connexion2005

iTrader: (49)

I thought p0300 was random misfire??? I wouldn't call it the opti yet my friend.

LSWHO

iTrader: (1)

0300 is random/multiple missfire

sdm1234

iTrader: (8)

An opti is either good or bad. It either works or it doesn't. There is no in-between. Check your wiring (cap, rotor, wires, etc).

connexion2005

iTrader: (49)

To an extent though right? They have fading symptoms...

Low N Slow

iTrader: (4)

I have had 2 bad optis that let me drive home, they would start really hard then one ran fine as long as you stayed out of the throttle, the other one made it miss like crazy at anything above idle but it still ran.

Formula350

iTrader: (3)

The optical SENSOR maybe, but when someone says Opti they are referring to the whole unit, and they can go half-bad. Just like a computer's processor or memory, they can be bad but still 'work', they just don't work as they should. Continuing with the PC reference, if either of them start going bad they cause instability in your computer, which will cause the system to crash, but it's not always something that happens right away. A rig I have on my test-bench is a perfect example (motherboard issue) and it will sometimes run for 5seconds to 3minutes, but it still works to some degree. Back to the Opti now, if there was a component that was on it's last leg, it could easily cause a misfire! However, it could also be that his Cap and Rotor just need to be changed and coupled with the cold weather, it causes the misfires.

However, if you have a weak battery you could easily be getting a weak spark and that would lead to misfires as well. There's still other options to explore before we condemn the Opti.

alconk

iTrader: (1)

Does it only do it when it's cold? When my Opti went out I was driving down the highway and was like someone just turned the key off. Pulled over to the side, cranked and started back up and down the road a few more miles and done it again. This time it would not start back up.

Mattsz28

iTrader: (1)

Opti FTL

wbrandon99

Hi im brandon. I was goin threw the ?s everyone had about the opti spark and i had a ?, For you i have a 93 firebird formula and i did a tune up on it spark plugs, wires, 02sensers, and the throttle body bypass. i got eveything done then took the car for a spen and burnt the #7 spark plug wire in half. Brought it home and put a new wire on it and it help then went back to missing really bad. but i got to thinking and relized when i did the throttle body bypass i let anti freeze dump behind the opti spark. but the car would run shitty but did run for 3 days and it seem like each day it got worse then just quit! Do you have any suggestions?? thanks

Formula350

iTrader: (3)

All depends on how MUCH got spilled. A few ounces most likely won't do it, since that much easily gets on there during wet weather. If quite a bit did and went DIRECTLY onto the Opti, it's a fair chance it managed to get inside and cause a nasty atmosphere inside the cap causing oxidation and/or light corrosion of bits. The optical wheel could've gotten oxidation buildup and causing it to mis-read. I'll assume you don't have headers, due to just now getting around to the TB Bypass, if I'm right how the heck did you burn a plug wire? Unless you went with an Over the Valve Cover kit.

marc97taws6

iTrader: (6)

How much is a new Opti anyway considering I'm pushing 100k

shutzero

im pretty sure you can get them anywhere between 400 and 600 dollars

t/afrom504

try thepartsladi off ebay, at least that what everyone else says

marc97taws6

iTrader: (6)

Ugh, thats a pretty penny

t/afrom504

hopefully i get this opti **** done when get back in town, im tired of driving with two feet just so i can keep the car running at 1000rpms