AdsoYo

Thanks in large part to this board I was able to change my water pump drive seal and opti seal. I decided to install a spare AC Delco opti I have to see if it would resolve a bucking issue I've been having among other things. This is a brand new opti that has never been used.

I also put on a new Dorman harmonic damper that is easier to remove with the aftermarket hub I have.

The first few times I tried to start the car, it would turn over fine a few times then stop. If I kept holding the key, it would turn over a few more times then stop, it wouldn't fire. Eventually it would fire but not try to run. The tach would jump to 500-750 rpm then fall to zero.

Once it held idle for a few seconds but was real shakey and the exhaust stank. Now it will consistently fire then die immediately.

If I start it and give it gas, it will run. I have to keep giving it gas because it won't idle at all. It still shakes and stinks but I can rev the engine at least up to 3K, didn't try any further. There are no pops from the exhaust but when I looked at the ground behind the tail pipes it was covered in soot. There was no visible exhaust either. As soon as I took my foot off the gas the engine died.

I'm positive the opti is connected correctly, no crossed wires. I'm positive the dowel pin is in the correct socket. The opti was flush against the mounting holes when I pressed it in (on the one millionth attempth )

There are no trouble codes. Everything on my scanmaster looks normal except for the knock retard which was understandably varying. The spark advance was also varying, too but that also makes sense if it's running poorly.

My gut feeling says there's a misfire and the opti is bad but I want to hear what others have to say.

pizzi-man

check that the plug wires are in the right place on the opti?

slick1hunting

What he said^^^ and also double check the harness for no bent pins or corrosion. Make sure your battery is up and you have good grounds. Double check that you hooked up all other wires and sensors that you unhooked. I once sucked something in the iac hole of throttle body and it lodged in the passage and really messed my idle up(if you cleaned the throttle body may be worth checking out the passages in it and the iac valve(be careful with it if you remove and clean its pintle as I damaged mine when I swapped throttle bodies). I would also check fuel pressure to verify its good and rule it out. Along with double checking the plug wires are correct order I would be certain they are engaged or pushed in and not loose. The two sensors that I sometimes want to forget to hook back are the water temp on water pump and the air sensor on my ram air box. Also double check the vacuum lines on opti and if you removed both ends have the check valve the right direction(not sure that would cause your problems but something to double check). Just be certain of everything you touched or removed or diconnected is in the proper place then I guess I would want to look further testing the opti and looking at plugs.


Posted from Camaroz28.com App for Android

slick1hunting

With the vacuum lines on opti I am not sure what if anything reversing them would do(putting wrong one on the wrong port)


Posted from Camaroz28.com App for Android

Injuneer

This is a bit confusing.... you have a 94, but you mention the dowel pin being in the correct hole. Did you do a vented Opti conversion? Or did I just miss this in your signature?

AdsoYo

Thanks for the reply's. I'm away for a week so I won't be able to work on it until next weekend.

The engine came from Golen with the vented opti.

AdsoYo

So I think I can safely give this thread some closure.

I tore down the front of the engine again paying close attention to the work I did. Everything was assembled properly. It looks like I bought an opti that was faulty out of the box.

I bought it back in 2009 from thepartsladi when I got the new engine. That ebay seller was getting nothing but outstanding reviews from members on this board and others. Looks like even they weren't immune to the optispark's reputation.

I was getting a no-start situation back then too and replaced it with a different opti (the one I've been using since) and it still didn't start until I replaced the MAF. All this time I thought the MAF was to blame and the opti was fine.

Now I got the car all back together again with the opti I've been using all these years and it started and ran just fine.

Maybe I'll dissect it... or use it as a $250 door stop.