dirtybird222

from a few days ago
The past few months my car has been running like crap. It all started when my car started misfiring on my way to school, not bad but got to the point where it wouldn't even start. My dad thought it was the fuel pump for some reason, so we replaced that with a Racetronix. No start. So finally we dug into the opti-spark and found out that the wiring harness and tower was crumbled to pieces. I didn't have the money at the time so I just replaced the opti and not the cap and rotor. Then came x-mas break and I came home from school for a while and decided to work at one of my old jobs to make some extra cash. On my way home from work the metal part of the rotor decided to come off and died on me as I was pulling into my driveway. Car ran fine after we replaced the cap, rotor, plugs, and wires. On my way back to gainesville the car started to "buck" for lack of a better word anytime I would hit 3k rpm, anytime before or after it ran fine. When i say buck it felt like the car would hit a brick wall and then accelerate fine. It did this for a while, I talked to one of my buddies who just got out of UTIs mercedes programs and he told me to unplug the front O2 sensors to see if the car ran fine on open loop. And it did for a good week. Then the car started "bucking" again. And the past two days the car has just been dying in traffic, or just while I'm cruising down the highway. When I try to start it back up it sputters and pops and dies back down. Then today it just completely died on me and wouldn't start back up.

I was curious and checked to see if there was any pressure building up in the fuel tank and I unscrewed the gas cap and no pressure "came out." So after I got my car towed back to my apartment complex I decided to pry open the doggy door I made for the fuel pump and check all the fuel lines, evap lines, ect. Checked the sender to make sure it was sealed in the bucket and all the connections were fine along with all the lines. So I moved up to the engine. Checked the shrader valve and very little fuel came out the first time i pressed on it. Primed the fuel pump again and pressed on it again and got a powerful shot of gas to come out. So I moved to the opti and all the connections and everything seemed fine along with the ignition coil. Decided to "ghetto" test and see if a plug was getting any spark but pulling it out and letting it rest on the fender well for a ground while trying to turn over the car and could not see any spark going to the plug (this was at night).

dirtybird222

from today
it was either the ICM or the Ignition Coil. Went through and tested all wires with a test light and all problems led to one of those. Didn't want to replace one and see if it worked then try the other so I just bought both and got on with my day. Thanks for all the help guys
__________________

dirtybird222

from tonight

lol so that lasted not even 20 miles and it's back to doing what it was before. I guess it's time to tear into the crapti-spark.

dirtybird222

Anyone?

transAMdriv3r

Im thinking it either jumped timing or you installed the opti the wrong way, which is very easy to do.

dirtybird222

how could you install it wrong?

irocbsa

Basically, it can be off a tooth or two which will really mess up your timing.

mdacton

he has a 97 I don't think you can put that opti on wrong and bolt it down without knowing it...its the pin drive style

ayers1967

Mines a 94 and you can't get it a tooth off and still bolt it down.

dannyum89

Thats right. Theres only one way for the opti to go on a 97. I didn't see you post how many miles the car has? What simple mods do you have? Did you plug your front O2 sensors back in? If you replaced the entire opti I don't see how that could be your problem.

dirtybird222

So I just got the opti, cap, and rotor out again. Everything seems to be perfectly fine. I mean you can't tell if the optical sensor is ok or not just by eyeballing it (at least I think so unless one of you guys tells me otherwise). There is some oil leaking in there, but I just replaced that seal when I put the cap and rotor in there. But talking to mike norris from Next Level Performance he tells me that what I did - putting an opti in at a different time then the cap and rotor can be bad and lead to ruining the ICM and ignition coil and so on. I'm really at a "plateau" as one would say in weightlifting, in terms of what to do next or where to go to figure this problem out.

dirtybird222

car is just about to hit 107k miles. No I haven't plugged those back in as I'm waiting for the extentions from summit to get in. ( i had made my own extentions before) and then I need to run and grab two new sensors from a GM dealership.

Mods- Hooker Longtubes, Y-pipe, and that's it as far as engine mods.

dirtybird222

got the car to run now. But here's the new problem. Car starts up and runs like perfectly fine for about 10 miles or 15 minutes. Then it just dies on me. Talked to someone locally and they said to replace the coolant temp sensor and that she be that.... Anyone else have any insight?

dannyum89

It seems to be a problem that occurs when your car goes into closed loop but that doesn't really make sense since your O2's are diconnected. Does it cut off even if you let it sit there idleing?

dirtybird222

yup after like 15 minutes. My dad might have connected one of the 02s back up but i dont think he did. I'm back at school and he has my car now for the week. He told me the same thing was happening.