Injuneer

One of the weakest components in the Opti is the bearing. That's sitting in the base/back 1/2 of the Opti, along with the thin, spinning stainless steel optical disc and optical LED's that can be blinded by rust, and the optical module electronics that can be subject to heat stress. And the back 1/2 also contains the wire harness connector, where the seal rots and allows most of the moisture to enter.

This is a pic of the back 1/2 (a vented model, but not that much different than the unvented) from Mike Chaney's Opti Disection Page:

sbs

It's not an opti alone, because turning it off for 5 min wouldn't fix an opti problem.

Part of it could be a knock problem. Once the car picks up knock, it goes into "low-octane mode" and retards timing. Wouldn't cause the really bad idle that you describe, but it does make it lose a lot of power. It resets that when you restart the car.

So perhaps that plus some mechanical problem could explain your symptoms.

flexus

Well, what you just explained there injureer is enough to convince me to buy the whole opti

Lately the car only starts after a lot of cranking, and if i rev it up it creates exhaust explosions... I've read on a site that these are most probably opti related too... Lately it hasn't gone to 7cylinder mode any more, but i've not gone past the 5k revs limit. On the way up to 5k it has split second power losses, feels shakey but in an uneven pattern, not like the 7cylinder more where it bangs all the way up regularly.

I'm pretty sure steve is right, there probably is something else wrong too, but taking it one step at a time might help me identify other problems easier.