I was driving along the highway, about 1/2 mile from home when the fire went out. No stumble or anything, just bleah... dead. I looked at the gauges to see if anything was odd looking there. No.... Hmm... So from the 'Run' position, I cranked it and cranked it but no sparks...Still coasting at about 45 mph with a dead silent engine(is this what a Prius sounds like?...) I 'cycled' the key (completely off, then on again) and she fired right up. Bizarre... So.. I pulled into the driveway, shut down the engine and walked into the house, pausing on the porch to look back at the car and give her a 'what was that all about?' look before going inside.

Next morning, I go out to start the car. This time, it just cranks and cranks with no hits. I pull a plug wire off and put a spare sparkplug in the plug wire, ground it the the header, turn on the key and then using a remote starter button, crank. No spark... Phock.... So, I get out the manual and reread all the voltages, etc at the Opti Connector and at the ICM (Ignition control module) and use my multimeter to test everything. Damn it... the ICM A/C voltage is supposed to fluctuate between 1 to 4 volts during cranking but it's locked at 3.3 volts.

This opti is a Jegs low cost iteration I bought in '08. My original Opti(I bought the '96 car new in Nov of '95) lasted till 2005 so I was disappointed that this one died so quick. After reading some posts where guys said the AC Delco/GM ones are doing better than the others, I ordered a new GM one. I put it on yesterday, then took the Jegs one apart. I found that the internal seal had pulled off it's seat for some reason and oil got it from somewhere. I know for awhile I had a power steering seal that let a lot of power steering fluid fly around on the serpentine belt so maybe some of that slung up in there.

Here's the Jegs Opti with the compromised seal area showing and the oiled surface near the optical sensor...

 

Actually it doesn't look bad. Any oil inside the housing? You might be able to clean it up with some ether spray and reuse it. I was likely the oil contaminating the contacts that killed it. Is there any oil leaking from the water pump drive? I sealed my opti with oil resistant silicone.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tjWWl11beg

Sorry couldn't help it...


Seriously though AC Delco is the way to go.....Loc tite the rotor screws then run a bead of sealant around it to keep oil and moisture out... Should last a very long time....

best of luck

Matt

 

I don't know if the 2nd picture came thru to you correctly. I've refreshed it so you can see that, yes, oil did get in there. I agree with you that perhaps it can be cleaned and reused. Hope so!

 

Done! I used the blue loctite and black silicone sealant on the perimeter.
Thanks!