Even new AC Delco Opti's suck!
#1
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Even new AC Delco Opti's suck!
I replaced the opti in my wifes 97 a couple months back with a brand new GM opti.
The damn POS came apart in less then 3000 miles!
Last weekend I ripped on it and it backfired. After that it wouldnt rev over 2500. It was popping and backfiring.
The strange thing is that it idled fine with no miss.
I pulled the opti off of it today. I felt somthing binding as I turned the shaft.
I was expecting broken, loose, or stripped rotor screws. Not a broken rotor.
The damn POS came apart in less then 3000 miles!
Last weekend I ripped on it and it backfired. After that it wouldnt rev over 2500. It was popping and backfiring.
The strange thing is that it idled fine with no miss.
I pulled the opti off of it today. I felt somthing binding as I turned the shaft.
I was expecting broken, loose, or stripped rotor screws. Not a broken rotor.
#5
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"Originally Posted by Elliott's94Z
The Opti in general is GM's worst idea and design to date."
Worst location for a distributor to date? Likely. But technology wise, the Opti is probably the most advanced distributor GM ever made. The internal 'window' disk that the optical sensor uses to detect crankshaft revolution provides a full 360' of reading to accurately provide proper ignition timing (unlike standard distributors that only had a few reference points). Although the jump to coil packs was a nice improvement, the Opti was the next step in distributors.
Failure in the cap and rotor is simply poor quality control, as mentioned before. Where as failure in the optical side is usually due to moisture entering due to aged/improper sealing of the case or wiring connector. It doesnt help that its located under the water pump, but again that mainly has to do with location and not design.
#9
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I disagree, its a great idea. Bad execution.
Mine is a factory GM opti, took it apart and Loc tited the rotors screws before I put it on the car and have had not one problem. 6000 miles of rawhiding, God knows how many 1/4 mile passes and general FATBOY abuse.
Watch that ****** crap on me the next time I spin it over LOL.
Mine is a factory GM opti, took it apart and Loc tited the rotors screws before I put it on the car and have had not one problem. 6000 miles of rawhiding, God knows how many 1/4 mile passes and general FATBOY abuse.
Watch that ****** crap on me the next time I spin it over LOL.
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I agree. Obviously people who have had bad luck with them will bad-mouth the Opti, but in reality, it's a great design. Like fastfatboy said, bad execution (ei: water pump being directly above/in front of it)
#17
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Wasn't it Mitsubishi's design? Any case I love the I hate Opti threads. I've only been mistreated by one once, it wouldn't have even been a issue if I took a better look at it when I did a cap and rotor, I wouldn't have had it all back a part six months later if I just paid some attention to its guts. Oh yeah been running a MSD 6a for over four years and I ran a MSD Opti with no issues after the stocker died at 125k.
#18
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Wasn't it Mitsubishi's design? Any case I love the I hate Opti threads. I've only been mistreated by one once, it wouldn't have even been a issue if I took a better look at it when I did a cap and rotor, I wouldn't have had it all back a part six months later if I just paid some attention to its guts. Oh yeah been running a MSD 6a for over four years and I ran a MSD Opti with no issues after the stocker died at 125k.
You are correct, it was a mitchibitchie design, they used it on other cars of theirs in a different form.
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The original unvented opti on my car lasted for 90,000 miles. With a cap and rotor change it would have lasted longer. My recent opti problems have been new part manufacturer related. The crappy o-ring gasket on my MSD unit led that unit to fail in 4000 miles. I repaired it, resealed it, and it was OK. The opti is good when manufactured and installed correctly.