When all else fails, pull the Opti cap. Any signs of the water pump leaking? They will take out an Opti in a heartbeat. I bought my '97 TA from a buddy and it drove fine up till about 4500 rpm's. Of everything that had been replaced on the car over time, the Opti was still stock. Lots of corrosion in the cap. Found a used Dynaspark unit and all was good.

 

so an update. havent got my cable yet but looked at the opti and seen like a brownish wet stain on the bottom of it and is non vented and just judging it looks cheap. havent taken it off to see what it is but did not find any signs of water pump leaking. the spark plug wires are brand new. they are pcm over the valve cover kit from tick performance website. i did ohm the cables before install just to make sure i didnt have an open wire before install. i cant remember the readings but if i recall they were pretty close. i removed all the wires from the opti and plugs to double check connections.

 

ok got my cable in and dowloaded the software scan9495 and the check engine light is on but not showing up in the scan under dtc's. another thing that got my attention was that the coolant temp sensor is showing -40. had a spare sensor ( the one for the water pump) and ziptied it to a hose and connected it and found that it still ran -40 i wonder if that connector is bad.

 

connector on temp sensor was bad. now reading correctly and cel is off. still running like crap but no codes.

 

Not sure if applies to OBDi, but the temp sensor on the water pump helps with fuel ratios somehow on OBDii. Mine would not want to start after it warmed up because of this.

Well, i think. It did have a crappy autoparts Opti i replaced same time i did the sensor. But i never got the opti code, just temp sensor.