I think a LOT of optis have been declared "dead" when all they needed was to dry out or just a cap and rotor swap.

Most people who daily drove HEIs would throw a cap and rotor on every year or two, people bitch if an opti cap dies no matter how long it has been on there.

Of all the LT1s I have had pass through my hands and worked on over the years, I only ever saw one bad opti. It was in a 1994 TA that I bought that had been sitting for six years and would not start. Testing showed that the optical sensor was not working.

IMO most opti failures are from unattended weeping water pumps or installer error.

I bought some off the wall brand aftermarket opti off ebay for $75 brand new. Its lasted over a year so far after drivin in pourin rain and through 3 or 4 inch deep puddles and just flat out givin it hell daily. So optis arent really that bad. And its an easy fix anyway


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I've never had a problem. Mine was used for 157k miles before I replaced it. Still seemed to work fine though. :)

In all seriousness, I've had only one go bad and that one would probably still be working, if the rotor wouldnot have worked loose and took out the guts. My current one has 8000 miles on it with no issues.

Fade, when I say installer error, he installed an MSD Cap/Rotor Kit and put the tiny washers in between the rotor and the opti......when he cranked the motor, it shredded the inside of the cap and the rotor...he blamed it on a bad opti and sold the car.....

LMFAO!! You guys are funny!

For those who do not know me I do this for a living ;) I do not think the Opti is the worst thing ever, Just in a bad spot for servicing.

I ONLY Use GM opti's. My car getts about 12,000 on it before it starts picking up a High RPM Miss. Replacing the Cap and rotor with a MSD set will usually get me and other 12k miles but by then the bearings are usually going out.

I Did testing with MSD on there parts and worked with them to get a quality parts that lives today. We found some of the reasons the screws come loose and addressed them the best we could in the contruction of the rotor.

I went deep into the Nines with my last OPTI. BUT in an effort to make the car more dependable I eliminated it in my current build. I have had the opti start failing durring a race while going into the big money rounds. The new sensor cost me $30 and can be changed in 20 minutes max. I will NOT be stranded, as I have been, or loose money to one again.

BTW This thread was posted as a Joke for all the threads I still see ;)

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...67115475_n.jpg

Whats an opti?

My opti had 145k miles on it when i rebuilt the motor. The bearing was bad so i bought a msd opti off here and put my other optical sensor in since i knew it would work. I payed $35 for the msd because a tab was broke off. The original sensor is still in the car and im turning it 6800rpm without a problem.

I personally believe alot of the high rpm miss can be linked to the berring being out of round and walking. I was surely hoping this thread was a joke, with ur experience optis should be real easy to anyone with some mechanical experience.

I think it is good Ellis came back and posted more so the newbs can see just how radical his setup is and they have seen that the overwhelming majority do not have problems.

My opti "deaths" have been caused by a failing water pump and an oil leak.

Had people swear mine was bad turned out to be the cap Ben great other than that

173k on mine :)

and twofast4lv your setup is crazy, I've seen it before in other threads before, makes me :hump: every time.

Thanks Guys. My setup is just your average 1k setup ;)

I am sure parts of my opti Deaths are related to the extreme high energy we are putting to them to fire the power ;) I killed the first one at 32k on the dail ;)

Then again it has been a good 10+ years since I found the PCM shut off RPM to :D

Damn.....thought someone had stolen Ellis' screen name when I read the title/poster. LOL