LT1-LT4 Modifications 1993-97 Gen II Small Block V8

msd opti help needed

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Old Aug 18, 2012 | 12:58 PM
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Default msd opti help needed

The car started breaking up randomly last night which led to me pulling it all apart today. I found quite a bit of oil in my mad opti and really wasn't sure if this was enough to cause misfires .

Could these o rings be bad on the shaft?
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Old Aug 18, 2012 | 01:40 PM
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those 0-rings are not seals, they just stabilize the opti in the end of the cam
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Old Aug 18, 2012 | 01:55 PM
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Where do you think the oil is getting in from
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Old Aug 18, 2012 | 03:12 PM
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Need to put a check valve in the vent line it is running back into the opti. It would have to be leaking a ton of oil out the front cover to get inside the msd opti
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Old Aug 18, 2012 | 04:28 PM
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looking this over a little more, the oil dipstick was pushed up out of the tube and there are several oil leaks. im thinking high internal vapor pressure at high rpm is causing oil to go everywhere. maybe a hurt piston or ring is causing blow by. I cleaned all the oil out of the opti with contacvt cleaner and the car runs great now, just must be hurt internally
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Old Aug 18, 2012 | 04:31 PM
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I use clear windshield sealant around the inside of the cap when i put them together. No leaks in many years of doing it. Just my .02
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Old Aug 19, 2012 | 07:14 AM
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You mean the Delteq that is very failure prone and could support little in the way of additional features and needs a working opti anyway? And a couple YEARS ago the owner became very ill and the company basically went out of business? You mean that Delteq? The one where the housing warps and cracks the circuit board?

If someone is going to **** away a lot of money on a coil per plug setup then the LTCC has always had more features and been more reliable. My only guess is Delteq got more magazine coverage because even despite being basically gone for years now people still push it.

Again though the OP would still need a functional opti so the people who push either system for the fix to a "dead opti" are just morons anyway.

Now the OP has I suspect a few issues going on, one he bought the POS MSD opti that is less reliable than stock, then I would guess there was an assembly error with the opti, then there still needs to be a source for the oil. Were the restrictors in the vacuum harness removed and then oil leaked on the opti that was missassembled allowing it too much vacuum and then it sucked in the oil?

People could get a lot further with their cars if they actually took the time to understand and diagnose things.
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Old Aug 19, 2012 | 01:33 PM
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Did a leak down test (cold) and have between 10-20% leak down by the rings. it looks like the motor is getting tired. Check valve is intact on the optis vent line. The msd rotor loosened up last year and I made a few runs with the timing all over the place. That probably stressed everything with detonation
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Old Aug 19, 2012 | 10:49 PM
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You can always call msd and make them repair it. They asked me to pay 100 and something to fix it and I told them I already paid 450 and it never was reliable. I gave them a list of stuff they needed to fix and they didn't charge me anything. My sensor, optical wheel, shaft bearing and the cap/rotor were done.
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Old Aug 20, 2012 | 08:24 PM
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I have an MSD opti in my 93. Oil like that in my experience usually comes from a leaking gasket in the timing cover for the opti or the water pump. It's amazing it can make its way in there, but it does.
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