Accel Opti
I swapped mine at like 96K thinking it was a problem and it was not within a couple thousand miles the WP I had reused began to weep, now at 165K the last 33K or so cammed on that second one without issue and it has gotten several Decool baths from damaged heater hoses and the like.
Originally Posted by MY99TAWS6
Oops meant cap and rotor not cap and coil.I know the coil is separate.
Just wondered if you could replace the cap and rotor without having to do as much work as a full opti replacement.
I will likley replace it if do have to do same amount of work either way.
Car is under the snow in storage so can't go look at it right now.Have glanced under there but not really looked at it all that close.
Just wondered if you could replace the cap and rotor without having to do as much work as a full opti replacement.
I will likley replace it if do have to do same amount of work either way.
Car is under the snow in storage so can't go look at it right now.Have glanced under there but not really looked at it all that close.
IMHO, it's much easier to just change the whole opti. That reman I had mentioned was actually a reman optical (low res side) and I had to buy a cap and rotor kit (high res side). And putting that thing together was a bitch cuz it didn't have the bolts with it so I had to reuse the old ones. I ended up going to the dealer to see if they could loan me a socket for taking them out. The local parts stores didn't carry anything like that. I think those little suckers are 3mm 12 pts or something.
I had 150k on mine. However it looked like this on the inside. It was all original. Went through one waterpump leaking on it and whatever else.. Car ran fine(somewhat rough idle and arcing problem) though.
TECH Enthusiast
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 669
Likes: 0
From: Charlotte, NC
My car runs perfect all of the time, I make sure of that. My car was running great when I picked up a delteq system. After that I had issues. After more time and trial and error I decided to try replacing the opti in case there was a glitch in the photo emitter causing the delteq to go south. After installing the new and having the same problem, I opened up the factory one that I removed. It looked like it was about 5000 miles old instead of 60,000. In fact I turned around and sold it nice and cheap to someone on here.
My point again is just this. If you take care of something it will last. Sure you will have a premature failure now and then. But people just don't seem to care about the opti. They drive thought high water, let the water pump leak all over it, pressure wash the car, let the vent lines fall off, let oil leak all over it etc etc. there is no doubt that if any other cars distributor was drug through the mud like this, it would fail too.
Just so you know guys. The 2L Nissan motors have a distributor much like ours (dual photo emitter and shutter wheel), I belive the same company even makes the electronics for it. Guess what? They are prone to failure as well due to oil contamination that they often get.
My point again is just this. If you take care of something it will last. Sure you will have a premature failure now and then. But people just don't seem to care about the opti. They drive thought high water, let the water pump leak all over it, pressure wash the car, let the vent lines fall off, let oil leak all over it etc etc. there is no doubt that if any other cars distributor was drug through the mud like this, it would fail too.
Just so you know guys. The 2L Nissan motors have a distributor much like ours (dual photo emitter and shutter wheel), I belive the same company even makes the electronics for it. Guess what? They are prone to failure as well due to oil contamination that they often get.
Just a note that I've made over time. It seems that 99% of people complaining about the opti being bad and chewing through opti's are.........people running on modified motors. It's part of the game. If you want to play, expect to pay. Increase power, and you're going to start noticing weak links. It just so happens that the opti is a proven weak link once you start modifying. Anything from an aftermarket ignition to high RPM's can cause a failure. I've personally seen LT1's with well over 100K miles running like champs on the original opti, and the main reason for this is due to lack of modifications or racing or abue.
The opti is a great idea, with poor (typical GM) execution.
The opti is a great idea, with poor (typical GM) execution.
LS1 Tech Stories
The Best V8 Stories One Small Block at Time
Topdon ONE vs. Artidiag 800 BT2: Which is the Diagnostic Tablet For You?
Pouria Savadkouei
Gas Monkey Built a 6-Wheel Ferrari Testarossa With a Corvette LT4 Engine
Verdad Gallardo
7 Most Reliable High-Performance Engines GM Has Ever Built
Verdad Gallardo
Amazing '71 Camaro Restomod Is Modern Muscle Car Under the Skin
Verdad Gallardo
6 Common C5 Corvette Failures and What's Involved In Repairing Them
Pouria Savadkouei
Retro Modern Bandit Pontiac Trans AM Comes With Burt Reynolds' Autograph
Verdad Gallardo
Top 10 Greatest Cadillac V Series Performance Models Ever, Ranked
Pouria Savadkouei
Top 10 Most Powerful Chevy Trucks Ever Made!
Hennessey's New Supercharged Silverado ZR2 Has 700 HP
Verdad Gallardo
My opti first failed at 75k miles... But I already had a blower on the car along with a full host of bolt-ons and I drag raced her every week in Bradenton.
I thought for sure that it went due to the water pump leaking, but when I pulled it apart I found that the metal part of the rotor had almost completely separated from the plastic "melt tabs" that hold it down.
I replaced with a new GM unit, and had no problems for a while... Then the new one went out within 10k miles. WTF?? When replaced and the problem one was opened up, I found that the one of the screws holding the rotor down had come out completely, allowing the rotor to make contact with one of the points and start breaking stuff.
On my new motor, I bought a brand new opti, opened it up, and locktite'd the rotor screws, then super glued all around the head of each screw ... Then put a small bead of gray high temp rtv along the molded silicone seal before re-assembling the opti.
IMO, I essentially 'bulletproofed' the opti against most of the failures Ive had or even heard of people having in the past. Well except for the instance of the metal part of the rotor seperating from the plastic. I couldnt figure out any way to improve that without throwing off the balance or weakening it.
The optis are good, and accurate, just in a bad location. Ive had no more problems with the opti than Ive had with std distributors on other cars.
HBHracing: The optical encoder is made by Mitsubishi on the GM optis... Both the MSD and accel are supposed to use a different brand.
I thought for sure that it went due to the water pump leaking, but when I pulled it apart I found that the metal part of the rotor had almost completely separated from the plastic "melt tabs" that hold it down.
I replaced with a new GM unit, and had no problems for a while... Then the new one went out within 10k miles. WTF?? When replaced and the problem one was opened up, I found that the one of the screws holding the rotor down had come out completely, allowing the rotor to make contact with one of the points and start breaking stuff.
On my new motor, I bought a brand new opti, opened it up, and locktite'd the rotor screws, then super glued all around the head of each screw ... Then put a small bead of gray high temp rtv along the molded silicone seal before re-assembling the opti.
IMO, I essentially 'bulletproofed' the opti against most of the failures Ive had or even heard of people having in the past. Well except for the instance of the metal part of the rotor seperating from the plastic. I couldnt figure out any way to improve that without throwing off the balance or weakening it.
The optis are good, and accurate, just in a bad location. Ive had no more problems with the opti than Ive had with std distributors on other cars.
HBHracing: The optical encoder is made by Mitsubishi on the GM optis... Both the MSD and accel are supposed to use a different brand.
The MSD cap and rotor in particular do APPEAR to be better design and should eliminate the rotor issues had with the stock piece. I am confident enough in this to have spent $150 on them which isn't bad considering most cap and rotor kits for the opti are $120+ anyway. Since it has only been out since fall and racing season is just starting I would still consider it fairly untested, but promising.
The FIRST MSD opti was recently put on a test car belonging to a 9C1 Caprice owner from the Impala boards, if this tells you where they are in developement. I would say the 5-15 ship date Summit lists will get move again.
TECH Enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 607
Likes: 1
From: Anna, OH
My Opti's at 150K right now and still going. Yeah, mine's seen some rough use. I think these vented stock units are pretty decent. I'm not sure why I'd want to drop and Accel or MSD in it even if it went out tomorrow.
The Accel unit is currently listed at about $270 so if the cap and rotor or sealing are upgraded at all that would be a reasonable price alternative to a stocker. MSD and Accel are sister companies so we can only hope the Accel cap and rotor are the MSD cast in a different color and then if the base is OEM equivalent it should be good but we of course will not know till it is released.
TECH Fanatic
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 1,329
Likes: 0
From: Middleburg, FL
Originally Posted by 96capricemgr
MSD and Accel are sister companies so we can only hope the Accel cap and rotor are the MSD cast in a different color and then if the base is OEM equivalent it should be good but we of course will not know till it is released.
Accel and Mallory are sister companies, part of the MR GAsket groun, who now also owns Jacobs ignition.
MSD is it's own company, and they own Superships now
Launching!
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 261
Likes: 1
From: ofallon mo
mine is still running good. i wash the engine atleast 5-6 times a year, 2 water pumps took a dump on it, installed a cam and the heater hose blew off covering everything under the hood and there is 90k on the clock and 15-20k was with the accel 300+ box on it also.