so my car has been shutting off on me and not wanting to start back up. I had codes pulled and the only one that came up was the p0372 code which apparently means no low res pulse in the distributor. I recently had my opti changed about a month ago so i know it can't be the opti, but upon further inspection i noticed that the part of the harness that plugs into the opti was wet and one of my radiator hoses that runs into the water pump was leaking. So i'm assuming that this could have caused it to short out and throw the 0372 code. Just wanting to get a second opinion before i go and buy another harness and could this cause the car to sputter out and shut down if it is the harness...thanks in advance

 

Dry and clean the harness and connection pins. Oh, and fix the leak.

 

i thought about just doing that, but i didn't know if it was too late and the harness was fried. But i guess i'll try that first just to see

 

Just for the record, P0372 is loss of the high resolution pulse signal from the optical cam position sensor in the Opti. In addition to cleaning and drying the harness, look for corrosion on the pins in the Opti. Clear the code (pull "PCM BAT" fuse for 30 seconds) and see how fast it comes back.

What brand Opti did they install? Some of the cheaper/off brand replacements seem to live a very short life.

 

it was an MSD opti.... quick question. Is there a trick to taking the connector off from the opti without having to break out the tools and taking off the water pump and all that good stuff. I can touch it with my hand but i cant unclip it from the opti without some kinda hook-shaped metal tool

 

To my knowledge, the harness is permanently attached at the opti end on an MSD opti. You say it was changed a month ago "so it can't be the opti", but that is not always true.

 

ok so I was able to take the harness off. No its not connected to the opti. It looks pretty dry now but the bottom connector pins do have some green corosive on it. Any tips on how to clean that up.

 

Baking soda helps clean the corrosion off. Getting it down in there is the hard part. Some contact cleaner can also help remove the soda residue.

 

baking soda with water? Or just the baking soda by itself? Sorry if its a dumb question just want to make sure i'm doing it right

 

Sorry, sometimes I assume too much. Yes, a paste of baking soda and water.

 

The blue-green corrosion is often copper sulfate, a product of the sulfuric acid that gasses out of the battery. That will respond to baking soda. In the case of the Opti, I'm not sure you have copper sulfate. I'm wondering if this is the product of the Opti's ozone generation, causing some other form of corrosion on the Opti connector. It seems to happen a lot.

Let us know if the baking soda solution clean it up.

 

Well i tried the baking soda trick. It worked as far as cleaning the connectors but didn't fix the problem. Engine still just turns over but doesn't get start. I finally decided to just take it to a local mechanic. So far he has told me that he took out my spark plugs and changed them because the old ones had "gunk" on them, but that still didn't fix the problem. He said that there's nothing wrong with my fuel system and ignition system so the only thing that he says that it could be is that my opti has gone bad. So i looks like i'm going to have to by another opti again....

 

Did you have him check the Ignition coil? If you have a shorted / open secondary coil then there will be less voltage getting to the spark plugs (even if it's 1 volt under the required to jump the gap, it won't do it). Whens the last time you had a coolant flush? If you don't have your coolant flushed every so often (I forget recommended time / mileage) it becomes corrosive, if that leaked it could have very well been what gave that green corrosion.