Twice before I had problems with a LT1 knocking, pinging and loss of power only after the car warms up.
Twice I have replaced the optisaprk and problem solved.
Now I have the same problem with the Camaro only worse. This car has the nonvented version of the opti. So is it the cap or the electronics gone bad? To play it safe I plan to take the MSD cap from the spare engine and the base with electronics from the Z28 parts car. Now the unvented optis cost around $100 more than the vented version and have about 1/10th the lifespan.You can modify the unvented optis to vented with a couple fittings, a drill, and some glue.
OK now the trouble starts.
I decide to replace the water pump shaft seal 'casue it's much much more difficult to replace the opti in the F-Bodies and I really don't want to have to do this again for a long time. Now I've replaced this seal almost as many times as Bill's Nephew has installed trannys without any trouble. Not this time I wreck the seal twice. So after three trips to the parts store I get the seal installed correctly.
Now the
real trouble starts. I take the two opti halves and put them together to make one. Mod it to make it into a vented version. Put everything back together, fill 'er up with coolant and try to start the car. It won't start. WTF! I scan for codes and get a DTC 16, no low resolution signal. Now it can't be the cap because it shouldn't cause this kind of error. It can't be the opti base and electronics 'cause the engine it came from was running last week. I start checking the wiring and what not. I can't find anything wrong and now I'm getting really pissed. I decide it has to be the opti electronics as strange as it seems.
I'm out of junk optis and I really don't have the money to pop for a new one due to some of my recent purchases. I have a buch o' spare parts but it seems almost never exactly what I need. I decide to try the original opti base and electronics with the MSD cap. Put it all back together sans coolant 'cause I don't have anymore antifreeze. Try to start the car and it fires right up. At this point I'm still not sure the original problem it solved since I can't let it warm up. Off to Walmart for more antifreeze. As soon as I get back I find a full jug in the garage that I thought was water.
Fill it up, warm it up and all seems fine. Now how did the opti from the Z28 parts car go bad when it ran just last week?
From a visual inspection it's obvious the original cap was bad. I still fear there may be a problem and I won't be happy 'til I run the car for an extended period of time.
Does anyone have any personal experience with the ultra cheap ebay optis? I'm gonna need another if I try to fire up the Z28 engne.
How much do distributors cost for the LS1 engines?