I've got the opti blues
 

A buddy of mine, his Z just had an opti fail. So he replaced it and the car ran ok for about 30 mins, started missing, check engine came on, and quit. Won't start back again.

What would cause an opti to go out so easily?

it may be the harness, And where did he get the opt, I got one at autozone years back, 149$ with a lifetime warranty that they do honor very very well. I'd say its a 50-50 chance of theirs working out of the box, I've been through several. longest one of theirs has lasted me was about 6 months, got tired of that got one on ebay and it lasted around 6 months... scan it if you have not.

Napa replacement, he got it free. I called autozone, yea they have a great warranty.

I haven't scanned it yet. He just called me about it. This weekend it had the malf 16 code. Which is the opti.

That sucks man. Hopefully theyll give him a new one and thatll solve all the issues.

Yeah they should replace that thing if it only lasted thirty minutes..lol. Check the harness connection. Sometimes they just go bad.

Yea sux bad. He called me with a few choice words for his lt1. Just got the tranny back in and now the opti is causing trouble. He hasn't got to drive it at all this year.

patients my young one, patients

Update: Still have problems.

After swapping out a few optis and replacing a couple fuses, there seems to be another problem.

The car starts when cold and runs great for a bout ten or fifteen minutes. As soon as it reaches operating temperature you can hear the engine change and the car eventually quits. You can start revving it up before it dies and it just loses all power. And it won't start back til it cools down. We have swapped ICMs, optis, Coils, temp sensor, etc.

What are we overlooking? Could the Computer be goin down? He said before he changed the temp sensor, the fans would come on real early. Its been a couple weeks like this now.

Come on guys. Where are the guru's?

Space the ICM away from the head and make sure you are putting heatsink compound between it and the plate.

what code is it throwing??

Make sure the ground by the icm is attached correctly, check the wiring harness around it very carefully too.

Where have u guys been lol.

Ground is good.

As for a code. There is none I don't think until it dies out. When I try to start it again, I get the opti code which is 16. That may be normal on failed starts though? Is it? Or do we have junk opti sparks?

Not sure on the heatsink compound but ill try it.

You replaced opti's and fuses but you did not say anything about the opti wiring harness, usually they get very brittle from the heat of the engine or coolant/moisture gets in them and they corrode and this could cause intermittent connections. The wiring harness can be purchased from ebay or summit and is worth replacing regardless.

my bet is on the icm. That is the classic symptoms of icm failure. When the car heats up it dies, and runs great until it gets warm. Start with the icm.

I'll give it all a try.

I've been taking parts off mine and troubleshooting his.

Weird thing, we thought we fixed it, replaced o2 sensor and it ran okay for a day. Washed it, and it started doing it again. My first thought was the o2 wiring. He has homemade extensions. I thought they grounded out or something.

i would think this would throw codes from the o2s if this were the case?

No spark after it dies out. And is taking awhile to start back. Just swapped optis again.

The car is cool and its still not starting at the moment.