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

Submerged the opti...

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Old Jan 29, 2013 | 05:55 PM
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So, yesterday we had a really nasty downpour in Chicago heights and on my way out of work I didn't notice the depth of the water in the parking lot untill I'd driven far enough to completely submerge the tailpipes, slammed it in reverse and got out of there.. I took the back way out of the parking lot and about a mile down the road I experienced some serious surging. I really thought I was looking at a new opti ASAP.. Then after a couple miles everything cleared up. Idles okay, runs good under load and decel.

Woke up this morning and it fired right up, ran just fine all the way to work.

Though I can't help but wonder how much time I've shaved of the opti's life here

Any ideas? Should I look into getting one of those fancy GM performance opti's while supply's last?

And on that note, is everyone happy with theirs?
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Old Jan 29, 2013 | 06:06 PM
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Run it till its dead. My stock opti was submerged for hours in a flash flood. Let it dry out for a couple of days and it ran for another 5 years until I built a new engine for it. Mine is a vented unit but we did nothing to the car but open the hood and let everything dry out.
If it's not throwing codes and it runs fine I'd let it play it's course.
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Old Jan 29, 2013 | 06:18 PM
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Just the reply I was hoping for
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Old Jan 29, 2013 | 06:54 PM
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Give it a few days to dry out, or use a hair dryer to speed up the process. You'll probably get lucky.
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Old Jan 29, 2013 | 06:59 PM
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The opti is not half as sensitive as the retards on the internet tell you it is. Besides that it is a distributor ANY distributor gets water in it it will act up till it dries out.
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Old Jan 29, 2013 | 08:11 PM
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Originally Posted by 96capricemgr
The opti is not half as sensitive as the retards on the internet tell you it is. Besides that it is a distributor ANY distributor gets water in it it will act up till it dries out.
Which is what I'd assume, Though I've heard stories of internal arc burning holes In the rotor... And with everyone stressing about not letting coolant trickle on it when you burp the system, I would assume completely submerging it and then running it for 40 miles at highway speeds could only have caused damage
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Old Jan 29, 2013 | 08:17 PM
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Yep you're fine. I've taken my car through some deep puddles, got a little sputter, and after a few hours she was good to go.
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Old Jan 29, 2013 | 09:29 PM
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I had a bad water pump for at least 5,000 miles, dripping ALL over the Opti. I even drenched it with coolant trying to replace a hose because I'm an idiot and didn't drain it!

Installed a new water pump, Opti is completely fine and has 30k miles on it. I think they are tougher than people will lead you to believe. Run it until it dies.

And this is coming from someone with a non-vented Opti on a daily driven C4
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Old Jan 29, 2013 | 10:09 PM
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Originally Posted by KFtransam
Which is what I'd assume, Though I've heard stories of internal arc burning holes In the rotor... And with everyone stressing about not letting coolant trickle on it when you burp the system, I would assume completely submerging it and then running it for 40 miles at highway speeds could only have caused damage
I spray my opti directly with a hose each time I wash my engine bay and I've never had a problem with it getting wet.
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Old Feb 9, 2013 | 07:48 AM
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So, through the past couple weeks there's been two occasions where while cruising at about 40 my rpms dropped to zero for about a second and then picked right back up. Yesterday after work I stopped at the gas station and when I came out it'd crank but not fire. I let it cool down for about half an hour and bam, fired right up.. The heat affecting it leads me to think its the ICM. What do you guys think?
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Old Feb 9, 2013 | 07:55 AM
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opti.
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Old Feb 9, 2013 | 09:34 AM
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Keep an eye on it and if it continues to act up and not start but when cooled down starts back its likely icm heatsoak. I had this problem with mine one really hot day in rush hour. Died on me three times and each time let it cool waiting for a tow it would fire back up. I ended up spacing out the icm/coil bracket from the head and never had a problem that summer.
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Old Feb 9, 2013 | 10:05 AM
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That is a good idea, and also taking a look at my coil and icm, they look factory. Where as the opti hasn't seen 5k miles.. May be worth replacing the both of them just for good measure
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