ignition hell
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 53
Likes: 0
ignition hell so here is the recap of my past couple of weeks...
my car stopped working in the rain a few days ago. I checked the voltage and pulse coming from the ECM to ICM and all of that was fine so i figure I needed a new coil. tried that, didn't work. put a new ICM in... didn't work.This had me second guessing my opti but I figured I should get my ICM tested just in case and it failed... so I got another one and had them test it in the advance auto parts... guy said it failed but he probably had it hooked up wrong and I should try it anyway -_- so I plug it in and it doesn't work so I check the pulse at pin B of the ICM harness and there is nothing now. so I go to the opti harness unplug it, plug it in and then I get a pulse so I plug in the new ICM and crank it over and it starts! I run in the house and yell to my roomate "F**K YOU IT WASN'T MY OPTI TOLD YOU SO" I then went outside to find my car had died and wouldn't start. now I have no pulse at the B terminal again. I decided to take the opti connector out of the equation so I straight lined each line (that metal strip isn't a ground is it?) still no pulse.
what do you think? did I speak too soon? opti time? this ignition system blows.
what AC voltage should I get directly out of the opti at the high res and low res signal wires?
can I check it with a multimeter or do I need a light?
any and all suggestions welcome.
my car stopped working in the rain a few days ago. I checked the voltage and pulse coming from the ECM to ICM and all of that was fine so i figure I needed a new coil. tried that, didn't work. put a new ICM in... didn't work.This had me second guessing my opti but I figured I should get my ICM tested just in case and it failed... so I got another one and had them test it in the advance auto parts... guy said it failed but he probably had it hooked up wrong and I should try it anyway -_- so I plug it in and it doesn't work so I check the pulse at pin B of the ICM harness and there is nothing now. so I go to the opti harness unplug it, plug it in and then I get a pulse so I plug in the new ICM and crank it over and it starts! I run in the house and yell to my roomate "F**K YOU IT WASN'T MY OPTI TOLD YOU SO" I then went outside to find my car had died and wouldn't start. now I have no pulse at the B terminal again. I decided to take the opti connector out of the equation so I straight lined each line (that metal strip isn't a ground is it?) still no pulse.
what do you think? did I speak too soon? opti time? this ignition system blows.
what AC voltage should I get directly out of the opti at the high res and low res signal wires?
can I check it with a multimeter or do I need a light?
any and all suggestions welcome.
Geez, you say you checked the pulses from the ECM. If they are there and getting to the ICM you have spark. Or you have a problem right there. It's the ICM or coil or power or ground or something. It's NOT the opti or YOU DO NOT HAVE THE PULSE. If the ECM is sending the pulse to the ICM, the coil should spark. It could be out of time and that's a different problem, but it will spark.
Al 95 Z28
Al 95 Z28
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 53
Likes: 0
I did have pulse. then I plugged in the new ICM and it started and died. now I do not have pulse from the ECM anymore so I took the connector off of the distributor pigtail because if I fooled around with it I could get my pulse back but now that I straight wired lines ABC and D to from the opti to the ECM I can't get any pulse. there is a tab on the connector. does that ground something in the connector?
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 53
Likes: 0
so it's been a while and since then I have replaced the opti with an MSD and it fixed the issue. sometimes you just gotta man up. I went with the MSD because it was the only vented option available for the 93. it worked great for a while but eventally I started getting a really bad sputter and it's missing all the time. I checked under the hood and saw that my heater core pump had come loose a bit and was dripping on my brand new opti -_-...so I fixed that and there was also a loose O2 sensor that I tightened up at that time (what I thought was the problem). I tightened up the O2 and drove away and it ran fine... for a bit. after about 10 minutes the car started spuddering and missing again. If I turn the car off and back on I get another 10 minutes of the car running perfect but then it starts to miss again. I checked the O2 and it was tight. I pulled the code and got a 36... faulty hi res pulse or missing low pulse from the distributor. do I need a new opti or do you think there is just moisture in it that will vent out with time. and can someone explain why the car runs great if I shut it down and start it up? could it be a timing issue? there is an adjustment for timing on this opti but i haven't touched it.
How'd the opti pigtail look (piece from the opti to the wiring harness- right side of the intake)?opti side can get corroded/ crudded up and cause issues with sending pulse- low and high res pulses travel this pigtail on the way to the PCM (or ECM in your case).
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