97 SLP Company Car

Well I,m waiting for my opti from dal which is what I shouldve done in the first place(order a new one) because I tried the cap and rotor only with a new waterpump and I dont know what I might have done wrong but this thing sounded like it was gonna blow up.

I know I installed it right and the car started right up only it sounded like it was running on only 6cyls. All I had before this was a random missfire at idle and no codes. opti was kind of tight going back on because of new o-rings but not enough to hurt anything, and dowel went in flush.But when I started it I could hear a metallic snap or click every minute or so.

Took it all back apart and found nothing wrong, all new plug wires are on correctly and plugs are new delco plats. Opti spins freely so knowing I wasnt going to try to use it again I took it apart and found that the rotor only had a small burn line (1/4) on it were spark shoots to wire terminal. The old one was fried along the entire face of rotor,that is almost showing like a weak spark.
Is there a certain way the water pump shaft goes back on? I didnt see that in my manual or any place else but I,m concerned about the clicking noise or could missfires just cause these noises? I know its long but I,m really pissed I didnt listen to shoebox and a couple others on the board and just buy a new one to begin with, and in the end I,m paying for it now.

Tommy'Z 6speed

One of your plug wires could be arcing internally between the post and female plug end. I had a coil wire that was begining to separate internally near the coil end and it sounded just like you describe. I couldn't see the damage until I removed the wire boot.

shoebox

I have never worried about alignment on the water pump drive.

I get some of these posts mixed up, but if you replaced your cam, take a little time to check the dowel pin length to rule out any problems there.

There are people that have done the cap and rotor and been ok, but just as many or more have not had success.

97 SLP Company Car

Thanks for the boost, opti was sitting on my front step when I got home from work tonight. Got it from dal regular ups in less than two days and I`m hoping everything else goes as good as the service from dal.

Also I`ll triple check wires again but I just put them on at the same time as all of this so very unlikely a bad wire. I think it was just the header smacking something because motor was bucking like crazy if I tried giving it any throttle.

I do have another question thou, I dissconnected crankshaft pos sensor to check for any corrosion or cracks and didnt find anything. I had neg cable dis at the time so I srayed some electrical cleaner on the conn. Dissconnecting this even with batt dissconnect wouldnt cause the pcm to lose any reference to timing position could it?Any replies are greatly app.

shoebox

No problem with your crank sensor. It is only a misfire checker and does not provide timing for operation (the opti does that).

97 SLP Company Car

Great! Thats one thing I was concerned about and I`m double checking everrything before I turn the key on this thing tommorow. Oh and to answer the question about the dowel on the cam thats ok because the hot cam kit has been in the car for a little over two years. The random mult missfires just started a couple weeks ago.

The new opti feels much smoother than the one I took off and I guess what gets me is the inside of the old one was spotless other than worn rotor and cap and a good amount of carbon tracking but with electrical parts that means absolutely nothing.
Thanks shoebox.