Possible Opti Failure.
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Teching In
Joined: Jul 2015
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Possible Opti Failure. Ok guys I need some help, so I took my car out to a meet and it ran perfectly all the way there. I start it up to go home and maybe move 50 yards and the car dies. It was pouring rain and the car turned over but would not start. Left me stranded and had to catch a ride home. The next day it started up and I was able to get a few miles down the road before it died. I let it sit for a few minutes and it started back up but I had to keep it revved up. It was popping and missing so bad that I eventually shut it off had to push it the rest of the way home. It now will start up and idle fine for a few minutes but eventually starts to run really rough, start missing and die. I wanna know if this sounds like a bad optispark or how to test it before I start throwing parts at it. Thanks.
Opti failure I am going to say no, cap and rotor worn out possibly. They are TUNEUP PARTS that people like to neglect untill they act up and then ignorantly blame "the opti". Nobody leaves any other cap and rotor on indefinitely and then curses the distributor design but it is the standard with the LT1.
I would check your coil to opti wire, it could be jumping spark to nearest ground. Run the car at night on ramps, pitch black out, and look under the hood and from below the car for any arcing, and then spritz water around the coil wire and plug wires. I had my coil wire grounding to my head ground strap when it was high humidity or raining. I wrapped my coil wire with a buttload of electrical tape and it stopped having issues so I replaced all plug wires and it was fixed.
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I defined "opti failure" as optical sensor failure. Cap and rotor wear causing poor operation is a tune up issue.
Oddly the cap and rotor are replaceable without doing the whole unit despite what the internet tells you about the opti's magical ability to die and cause every conceivable problem with the car and I think even sometimes adjacent cars.
Oddly the cap and rotor are replaceable without doing the whole unit despite what the internet tells you about the opti's magical ability to die and cause every conceivable problem with the car and I think even sometimes adjacent cars.
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OP
confirm first what your FP is. While the symptoms you note are often ignition...first confirm fuel.
replacing the fuel pump 3 months ago is no guarantee the fuel system is good.
"opti failure".....in the broad sense can be several things wrong with a opti be it lose or missing rotor screws, contamination within the opti be it oil or coolant or a mechanical failure (optical sensor) or as noted simple wear of the rotor and cap causing a misfire.
There are also components outside the opti that are part of the ignition system (coil, ICM, plugs, wires) which need to be checked.
Unless there is specific codes you can pull you will, after confirming FP is good, have to remove/open up opti to see if there are any visible signs (rotor lose/off or contamination) inside the opti causing your problem
and if you do open the opti and wind up replacing the cap & rotor it is recommended you loc tite the rotor screws.
confirm first what your FP is. While the symptoms you note are often ignition...first confirm fuel.
replacing the fuel pump 3 months ago is no guarantee the fuel system is good.
"opti failure".....in the broad sense can be several things wrong with a opti be it lose or missing rotor screws, contamination within the opti be it oil or coolant or a mechanical failure (optical sensor) or as noted simple wear of the rotor and cap causing a misfire.
There are also components outside the opti that are part of the ignition system (coil, ICM, plugs, wires) which need to be checked.
Unless there is specific codes you can pull you will, after confirming FP is good, have to remove/open up opti to see if there are any visible signs (rotor lose/off or contamination) inside the opti causing your problem
and if you do open the opti and wind up replacing the cap & rotor it is recommended you loc tite the rotor screws.
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i just went thru this worth my impala... Alright so I'm not a mechanic but I work in the industry, know more theory then hands on, but whatever, so I see a 96 impala go thru my shop last May, always liked them, and this one for all sorts of expensive goodies on it. But it need a head job, was smoking out one side. I said screw it, I want it, rebuild the whole motor, and I'll have a bad *** brand new car. Well no. My guesstimate on budget double before the drop was finished, and it from the get go was popping, crank shaft sensor code. I disregarded my better judgement and let a mechanic who wasn't fimiliar with lt1s, and he ended up spending a couple grand of my money, never fixed the problem. Finally it stopped running. Replaced the opti, it lasted one pass down the street. Over a year of no luck, sent it to the dealer, took them three months to figure out the pcm was bad, then they hit me for anew opti. Now the damn cars popping p1371 codes, after reading these threads i think it's the harness or the connectors. But don't do what I did, I'm now like ten grand into a 5000 ride and it still ain't right
I came across this on the corvette forum, a replacement opti that actually meets/exceeds oem quality, I also think the price is great too...
http://api.viglink.com/api/click?for...OptiSpark.html
http://api.viglink.com/api/click?for...OptiSpark.html
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Jul 2015
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Ok sorry for taking so long to reply back. I was able to scan my car and I have a stored P1371 code, missing low resolution pulse signal. I know when it throws that code the Pcm won't let the car start, i'm guessing thats what happened when it left me stranded. So I'm thinking now I have wire problem or its the optispark. Any other reason it could throw that code? Could that happen from just a worn cap and rotor like previously stated?
Thread Starter
Teching In
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Also the car has been sitting since this happened and I was able to start it and actually drive it for about 20 min before it had a small hiccup, but that was it and I drove it home. It acted like it wanted to stall going down the road but it only happened one time the whole 20 min ride.
I think it's time to set aside a case of beer and an hour and yank the opti. Stop guessing and pull it. Take it apart, see what it looks like inside, and post a picture.
And to PissedImpalaOwner, start a new thread and tell us everything you have done, and what others have done, and we will help you get yours fixed up.
And to PissedImpalaOwner, start a new thread and tell us everything you have done, and what others have done, and we will help you get yours fixed up.
