Mississippi

My car started to lose power last weekend. Naturally, I checked fuel pressure. It was good. Checked for obvious arc. There is none. So now, I have to admit what I don't want to, and say its the opti. I'm getting random misfires. Extreme loss of power. Bad gas mileage. The motor will not climb above 5k rpms. Wants to bog down from a stop. I'd call that the opti. Sound about right to you guys?

So, I'm getting a CMS opti, Ngk plugs, Moroso wires, MSD blaster coil, and new O2 sensors. Is there anything else I need to check before I run my credit card for 500+ dollars worth of ****. I'd love to find a 100$ solution...

SS RRR

iTrader: (2)

I think before you spend all that money for an unknown problem you should first zero in on finding out why the car is running like that. Examine your plugs and wires thoroughly. Take the wires out if you have to. Usually when a coil or ICM goes bad the car either runs or it doesn't. Take the opti off and take it apart and look at the cap/rotor.
How did you check your fuel pressure?

shbox

For all the work it takes to change an opti, I would not be considering one from CMS.

Mississippi

I used a fuel pressure tool on the little valve off the back of the fuel rail to check pressure. Started the car-40psi. Keeps consistent pressure, 35-42 or so.

Now I have some dumb *** rattle sound on decelaration off the front of the damn motor. I got under the hood and opened the throttle, let off and it rattles like a can of spray paint somewhere on the front of the motor. Like the water pump/opti area. No ******* clue what that is but I'm sure its got something to do with all this ****. I can't even get over 4k rpm as of today. It gets worse everytime I drive it.

I think I'm just going to replace all parts in the ignition system. It's got 118000 on it so why the hell not. Im so pissed. I bet my car couldn't run a damn 18 second quarter right now. I have no power.

Any clue on that rattle up front folks? Motor is going down the toilet it seems like.

Mississippi

And why not CMS shbox? I know you have way more experience than most so I definitely want your opinion. I've heard good things about them. I've also heard bad.

IronOutlaw

iTrader: (4)

Im not sure about the rattling noise, but I had an aftermarket Cat on my car that stopped up once and I could barely pass people on the highway. It idled rough and just ran horrible all together. I dont know if you have a cat or cats, but on my 94 I just had to unbolt the i pipe from the back of the cat and I busted all the **** out of it with a piece of rebar. It ran great after that.

Is the car throwing any codes? Id have it scanned before I go through the trouble of putting an opti in. It isnt too hard but it is time consuming, and is a pain in the *** when you replace the opti and it doesnt fix anything.

Puck

iTrader: (17)

Could be a loose rotor or one of the posts broken/chipped in the opti.

That would account for the poor performance and rattling noise.

1badzee

iTrader: (12)

I had a CMS opti in my old Formula. It was great for about 8 months, then it started randomly cutting out and bucking like a wild bronco. I installed the old opti with a new CMS cap and rotor kit and it has been perfect since.

My advice would be to pull apart the old opti, remove the sensor and wheel (carefully) and clean the entire housing inside and out (also clean up the wheel) and avoid getting anything on the sensor itself (put it in a sealed tupperware or something). Then I would go ahead and install a new cap and rotor (I used the one form CMS, looks like a fine piece). You should be set after that!

Mississippi

Well my buddy and I just unhooked the egr hose from the drivers side manifold and the rattling became 10 times louder. Sounds like maybe there is some **** in my egr system or my exhaust system. I'm gonna bust the cat up tonight. Take the valve cover off and see if maybe there is some **** in there. And yeah its throwing codes, but homozone can't read my comp (95 car, obd1 with obd2 port). I'm starting to lean against ignition and say that the rattling sound is directly related to the problem. When I first started losing power, I couldn't hear any rattles but over the past few days, it has become louder and more aggressive. I have straight pipes and my car isn't even loud anymore which also makes me think I may have a restriction in my exhaust. I know the cat being clogged can **** up performance. I'm gonna trouble shoot all week long. If I can't find the problem I'm gonna start throwing parts at it.

Mississippi

But please keep throwing ideas my way. I'm so pissed I can barely think.

BIGCAT7274

Sounds like a plugged cat or poor fuel.

MavsFORMULA

iTrader: (4)

I wouldn't spend any money until I read the codes. Any reader that can handle obdI and II should work. Use the obdII cable and make sure it's set to obdI in the settings screen. If your car doesn't have o2 sensors after the cat/s then it shouldn't throw a code for a bad one..

96TransAmboosted

iTrader: (8)

35-42 psi of fuel is below spec and will run like crap especially in the upper rpms. 43.5 is the minimum FP I would accept with vacation applied. 3-10 higher with vacation removed. There are plenty of sites that explain how to diagnosis an options coil and ICM. If you have a MM I would start checking before I checked out.

nitrous2fast

iTrader: (2)

Actually, the fuel pressure should be at ~43.5 with the vacuum line off. It should drop with the vac line reattached at idle.

BALLSS

not saying it is fuel related but to check the fuel pump in real time you need to have a guage you can read while at SUSTAINED WOT to see if it drops. The pump may be OK enough to send full pressure at idle but not under WOT. Hypertech makes one with a 18" hose you can tape to windshield for about $35

I know a car not rrunning right is frustrateing but they all F up at some point. Without scaning it for codes you are chasing symptoms and while you could get lucky throwing parts at it my $02 is find WTF is wrong 1st. Even if you have to spend $75 having it diagnosed at a shop.

On opti I would not use anything but AC Delco/Delphi. FWIW I had a rotor screw come out and it sounded fing bad like some bearing was going out in front of motor.

shbox

I haven't read enough good about them that overrides the bad.

Mississippi

I need to buy a cable and scanning software anyways. Looks like I might be doing that tonight. I'm at such a loss here. My fuel pump is loud as **** so that's worries me. I'm gonna see if I can track down the rattle and get a cable and freescan. I might wind up getting a shop to diagnose the problem and giving them a little money. 50 bucks to find out what's wrong is better than wasting cash on parts I don't need...

And ******, that is an exact description of my rattle. Sounds like a bearing of some kind just going nuts.

Mississippi

Ok Damnit. The rattle had nothing to do with anything. It was a damn egr hose flapping around. Fixed that. Still no improvement. I've used a tank of gas in two days. Horrible gas mileage on top of no power makes me a sad driver. How do I check icm and coil?

BADHAWK51

iTrader: (1)

I would check for a bad fuel injector. Start the car up and unplug them one at a time if the car runs rough plug back in and move on to the next one if you unplug one and there is no change in idle that is your bad injector. I would also have a test pipe made and pull that converter out to check it.

Mississippi

I already looked at the cat converter. It's not clogged. Just got done doing that as well. Gonna go check the injectors now...