YellowTA1

iTrader: (10)

I was driving down the road today, and the car began spittering & sputtering, so I got out of the gas. It leveled off, and I got back on the gas again, and it sputtered again, and then died. The motor will turn over, but it will not start. It has gas in it, so I don't know. I washed the motor last week, but drove it all week without any problems. Any suggestions of what might of happened?? Thanks

ChocoTaco369

i'm gonna say your fuel pump went out, or you need a new battery or alternator. i'm having a lot of trouble thinking right now, can you be a little more specific on what your car does when you turn the key?

crb806

since you mentioned you washed the engine and it sounds like symptons of the good ol optispark...the opti does not like to get wet

Ironxcross

iTrader: (8)

+1 (again)

Revelation Z28

iTrader: (10)

how would it hurt the opti if its been a week since he washed it. it would've dried by now or 2 days after the wash.

jkichline

iTrader: (1)

The '96's have better Opti's than the '94. They are much more tolerant of moisture. Its possible that its shot but not likely. Check to see if you have spark. If you have spark, it must be a fuel delivery problem. If you can, check your fuel pressure. If not, at least listen for the fuel pump priming before you crank it. If you don't hear it priming, you'll have to replace it. I just did mine in my SHO. It wasn't too bad.

Revelation Z28

iTrader: (10)

they may have a vent, but i got a blowdryer lol

30th droptop

iTrader: (-1)

Sometimes it takes a while for the carbon tracking to happen. The water will accelerate the carbon tracking. The typical pattern for the internal tracking is between the bottom two S/P wire terminals. On mine, I was actually able to take the opti apart and clean up the carbon tracking. I Dremeled the tracks away, then used epoxy to re-fill the ground-down areas. Hey, I was ready to sell the car and didn't want to buy a new unit. The repair seemed to work fine and cost me nothing.

Here's a good opti disassembly resource for anyone who can use it: http://www.charm.net/~mchaney/optisprk/optisprk.htm

As has been said, fuel delivery could also be the problem, or even a timing chain. Check everything.

YellowTA1

iTrader: (10)

well, I checked the fuses, and they are fine. When I turn on the key, the fuel pump is primering like it should. When I took my test light in a couple of the spark plug wires, I got no fire. I even held it up to the manifold to see if fire would jump, and it didn't. with that being done, anyone got any other thoughts? does that pretty much point to the optispark??

30th droptop

iTrader: (-1)

If you don't get any spark from the plug wires to ground (and make sure you hold it pretty close, since cranking spark can be weak), next use the same check to see if you get spark between the coil wire (connected at the top of the opti) and ground. If you do, then it's either the opti or a failed timing chain. If the timing chain stopped working completely, you won't get any rocker arm movement or oil pressure. If the chain just jumped a tooth, it's a little trickier to diagnose, but basically you would be getting little to no compression.

jkichline

iTrader: (1)

I 2nd that.... check for spark on the coil wire. If the timing chain jumped a tooth or broke, I believe you would still get a spark. If you have spark from the coil wire, then its time to drain the coolant, remove the water pump, and inspect the opti. If your water pump has more than 80K on it, you might want to replace that, too. You'll notice that your opti is held on with torque head bolts. I just used a 1/4" socket as I couldn't find torque sockets that small anywhere.
P.S. Nice find on that website 30th droptop!