My car has been miss firing as some of you may know for quite some time. I had been meaning to replace the Opti for awhile. I have been not only lazy, but very cold. Needless to say my opti took a **** on me last week when the snow was finally starting to melt.

For the $114 or so that i paid for the Chandler opti off ebay, im happy. The whole unit is nicely put together with good seals and it feels nice and heavy. Never the less, i still used silicone and locktite. The one and only thing i did not care for about the opti was the fact that not all the prongs on the cap (where the spark plug wires go) were straight. The majority of them were pushed to one side. I had a very hard time trying to put my MSD wires on the car, and upon further investigation. I found the culprit. (sorry i do not have any pictures of this) That is my only gripe about the opti. I was able to massage some of them over with a small screw driver. As careful as i was (and **** scared not to break a prong) i still cracked the plastic housing

Long story short the car is back together and its never run stronger. Finally fixed my miss and Finally fixed my god damn oil leak that was driving me INSANE! but here are afew pic's to illustrate the story.

the opti comes in a nice box


new internals


old opti (msd cap and rotor)




looks fine, right?


old internals. Its hard to see put theirs oil on the sensor from my leak


Oil leak culprit.... When i first installed my water pump drive seal i never noticed that it folded under itself


Good thing im a machinist so i was able to make a tool 1-2-3...


yay for no more leaks!


Sorry but thats all the pictures i have. I needed to finish so i could get home. I ended up leaving my shop last night at 11:30. I started tearing it down at 5 but had afew small snags inbetween.

I just figured id share my story of stupid seals, oil leaks, and inexpensive optis. Im very happy so far. If it manages to hold up. For the few dollars i spent ill be extremely happy and content.

 

Congrats!

Probably one of the few positive reviews Ive seen on this site for Chandler. Let us know how it holds up. I need a spare for when my engine goes back in. May go with them but as of now Im unsure.

 

My Chandler opti install went great. No issues at all.

I'm sure Chandler will take care of you on that terminal issue, you should contact them.

Bob

 

wow man thats the same thing that happen to me. i installed my new water pump and later notice a oil leak. good work.

 

thanks for the positive replys guys! The car is running so good that its hard for me to believe it.. I ordered a new set of wires because mine arent 100% anymore. when i replace those ill also be doing plugs and maybe o2's if im feeling crazy enough. Ill be sure to shoot them a PM to let them know about the cap. Im not about to go change the cap out tho... way to much work for me right now. Im actually surprised they havent posted here yet...

 

Can you fix the MSD unit?

 

It was just the MSD cap and rotor. the base was from the partsladi off ebay. Ill hold onto it if in the future someone creates a magic cure for fixing optical sensors

 

my opti from chandler lasted 3 years, and his prices are great. but unfortunately this time i went to advance life time warrenty. but if ur looking for a cheap opti hes the best way to go.

 

I just installed a Chandler opti in my car last weekend. Car fired right up after sitting there for almost 6 months. Runs really good and so far no issues. Good price for what seems to be a quality part thus far.

 

Well **** the bed!!! that seal tool needs to be priced an reproduced!!

 

Lol theirs someone selling them on another forum i believe. I could make afew more for people in need of one.

 

You can cut the top off a tube of caulking and use it. Cut it to size and it works perfectly.

 

No, but that 8.8 torque arm bracketry would be much appreciated

 

Thats a good tid-bit to know for anyone changing out there seals. It worked out faster and easier to make the install tool. It woulda taken me the same time find a caulking neck let alone make one.

If all 8.8 pumpkins were the same that wouldnt be much of a problem Unfortunately so, there are to many complications as far as mounts go. If shipping the pumpkin to me wasnt as a big or expensive deal then that would workout

 

So how long did installing the new opti take you start to finish? What do you all have to do, just remove the waterpump and housing?

 

with me taking my time to ensure everything was done to the letter. Start to finish took me roughly 5 hours. that included making the tool for the water pump drive seal and waiting for silicone to slightly cure. If your not in need of changing seals (which your crazy if you dont) im sure it can be done in less then 3 hours...

 

so hows that running?

 

Its running pretty good. Even tho my car is throwing code 44 again I thought it was related to my opti (which it was in part) its gone away since i did the install but it came back tonight for some reason. So now i have to replace my o2's and hope that thats the only cause of that..

 

44 is lean exhaust right? Just a FYI when I did my heated 02 conversion, I wired one side wrong at first and the car was throwing I think codes 44 and 42, one was lean exhaust and the other was faulty ignition or something.... I would double check your 02's

 

I just replaced both O2's and all my spark plugs. My spark plugs were Nasty! really covered in gas. But with new plugs and O2's and no more codes. cars in closed loop and running Great!