BADMOON

Long story short........ Car was missing and stalling dying acting funny.. Replaced fuel pump because Im a stubborn *** and didnt wanna believe opti... Well it didnt work.. Replaced the AC Delphi with MSD billet 83881. Started right up. Ran great for the tune and drove it about 35 miles home and Boom... Service engine lights on ... Loads up and stalls . This is definately spark related. I will see what code is popping stay tuned... MSD better stand by there product if its the opti or imma send it back with a turd in it... It just pisses me off cause the damn car was running great right before it happened.. Had the A/C on it drove perfect than ****...Luckily I made it down the street with it missing...


UPDATE

96capricemgr

iTrader: (1)

The cap and rotor are wear items and people bitch when they were out, that is the biggest "opti problem" then the next biggest is that folks then think they need fake "upgrades" that are in many cases a step backwards.
Notice neither of these things is an actual problem with the stock opti but rather the dimwits that own the car.
Not to say it is a perfect piece but it is nowhere near the trainwreck the incompetent wrenches on the internet tell you.

devildog214

your taking a shot in the dark getting an non delco/delphi opti yeah people open up the msd opti and make sure stuff is tightened and whatnot, but what kind of product is it that you have to do their quality check for them?

jaycenk

iTrader: (1)

As insurance I opened the delco unit up and loc light the rotor screws. Guess it is all fine and dandy until the rotor is sticking out the cap. On my stock unit at 100k one of the rotor screws fell out and was rattling around. The damn thing still ran though. had a slight miss at higher RPM. I would defiantly stick with OEM parts on this. They have almost always proved their worth.

SS RRR

iTrader: (2)

This should be done on any opti regardless of which one.

97 6speed z

Well the great thing about these forums is that you will get a variety of opinions, that's for sure.

I couldn't disagree more that the "cap and rotor" are the biggest Opti problems. Maybe it's just my personal experience but I'm on my fourth (4th) Opti on my 97 Z, and ........... ALL of my previous Opti failures have been due to the optical sensor system.

Like stated above the cap and rotor are wear items, but, a cap and rotor "problem" will manifest itself .......... gradually. Also, when your OBD system starts offering up those "Loss of low/high resolution signal" diagnostic trouble codes .......... those are related soley to the optical side of the system, not the cap and rotor. After all of my Opti failures I inspected my failed Opti's and, in all of them the cap and rotor were in pristine condition.

Also, all these "runs GREAT for five minutes and then dies", reports are not due to anything related to the function of the cap and rotor. What is happening here is that the optical sensor or harness (i.e. the optical system) is experiencing an intermittant failure. And finally, when a failed opti gets replaced with a new unit, and that new one fails in a very short period of time, (i.e. like electronic component "infant mortality") like a week/month or 1,000/2,000 miles later, believe me it's NOT due to a bad cap and rotor!

SS RRR

iTrader: (2)

A lot of opti problems have also been caused by coolant leaking onto the opti, causing issues and owners just replacing the entire opti instead of drying it out. I think GM was onto something when they went with that design.

97 6speed z

SS RRR, GM was onto something? Or, did you mean to say "GM was "on" something ....... when they went with that design"???

SS RRR

iTrader: (2)

Coolant drops onto the opti, opti goes "bad," owner panics, rushes to the GM dealer to buy another brand new GM opti, repeat. How much money was wasted in good optis being thrown away is astounding.

97 6speed z

Okay, I got it now! Sorta like we'll sell you a brand new computer printer for only $29, but .......... the replacement ink cartriges cost $59 each.

94blackz

Just my experiance but every opti problem iv encountered has been nothing more then a worn cap and rotor.

96capricemgr

iTrader: (1)

any distributor will run bad wet inside and for the most part will dry out and run fine again. I had an old 4x4 with an HEI and managed to drowned it a few times in 2 foot deep puddles and it always started back up once you let the water run out of the cap and engine heat to dry it for just a few minutes. The opti being vaguely sealed takes longer to dry but can still dry out and run again.

BADMOON

Im hoping that is whats going on .. If the water pump is barely leaking on opti and causing multiple failures i will be happy to replace the stock pump with an electric.. But I have had the car 12 years about and just now am I having opti problems.. I replaced the whole motor block and everything about 4 years ago but didnt replace the stock water pump. Maybe there is a leak in it that just occured thats causing it to **** optis...The new motor is a 383 running 11:2:1 on pump with Trickflow heads and custom nitrous cam.. Car has always been a reliable stone til now. Its driving me crazy...

93Euphoria

My experience with 3 Opti’s have actually been lucky. First was when the cap & rotor had 120k miles on it then went out. 2nd opti only had to be replaced with an idiot replaced my water pump and forgot to replace the coupling oil seal and it ran perfectly fine for 20k miles until I had to replace timing cover seal. The 2nd situation when we took the cap off the opti, oil just pored out like nothing. The whole inside off the opti was like a rear end with gear oil. Yet had no problems, ran perfect, and only replaced it because of oil contamination. Now im on my 3rd and no problems so far with 25k on it. Opti’s are too misunderstood like pitbulls. You hear too much of the “Oh I just replaced my opti and the car is running the same"

97 6speed z

BADMOON, have you scanned your car for codes yet? Remember those low/high resolution Opti failure codes often do NOT set your SES (i.e. Service Engine Soon), light.

If you're thinking that a water pump leak that is too small for you to even detect a slight coolant loss, is causing your car to kill Opti's ...... I think (???) you're barking up the wrong tree?

Even though ALL my Opti failures have occurred on "bone dry" Opti's, I agree, like some others have already said above, that the Opti CAN take a "fair" amount of punishment, (and certainly it CAN take a few DROPS of coolant getting on it!), and still work!

BADMOON

Havent had the time to even look at it ... I will tell this... I forgot to mention I replaced the coil when I replaced the opti... I will also tell you this the day I replced the opti The car drove awesome for about 30 miles . Felt good power , had the A/C blaring . It was 101 degrees here this car is never been really driven in these conditions. Its a 96 with 53k miles on it.lolThe Service Engine Light definately came on when it started to act up...

Thanks for all your help and input. I should have time to scan this weekend. Dont give up on me fellas.....

kgkern01

iTrader: (10)

Mine was just doing about the same thing, had the ICM tested, it failed, now with a new ICM its running strong again. Just a suggestion before getting into the opti.

BADMOON

That could be.. This last time it started acting up it sure did act like the timing was changing around. Real weird never heard anything like it in any car..

BADMOON

I have started the car up and let it warm up about 10 mins or so and car is having zero issues... After letting it warm up the second time( during the day) I noticed water leaking real bad under the car.. I tookk a glance and it seems like their is a crack in two different spaces on radiator. Definatley enough to water down the opti, plugs, coil etc ... while the car is moving... Gonna scan it anyway later... I think that maybe when the car gets warmed up that it pushes water out .. What Im angry about is it wasnt doing this before .. Maybe the initial gripe was the opti but the new one is getting hosed down with these leaks that were caused by a damaged radiator...