Dyoung_Z28

Okay so my car has been misfiring, backfiring, stumbling lacking acceleration for a few days, changed ignition coil and now it won't start at all, a mechanic said my starter was bad, the bolts had broke off in the block but I had them fixed at a shop and he said I'll be needing a new one cause it got messed up driving it how it was. I need help figuring out why it's doing the things it's doing instead of throwing new parts at it.

Injuneer

Have you scanned it for codes?

Have you checked the fuel pressure?

Have you checked for a plugged cat?

How old are the plugs and have the injectors ever been cleaned??

Dyoung_Z28

How can I check for a plugged cat.
Only codes that popped up when it did get scanned was crank sensor
I don't have anything to check fuel pressure. I have new plugs new optispark and new wires

Injuneer

Check for a plugged cat by measuring the pressure in the exhaust system before the cat. An exhaust shop can connect a pressure gauge to the O2 sensor bung to measure the pressure.

94 does not have a crank sensor. The crank sensor was not added until 1996, to detect misfires.

Did you possibly get DTC 16 and/or DTC 36 for the cam position sensor in the Opti?

Dyoung_Z28

I'll update you on everything. So I changed the optispark and ignition coil and car won't start just cranks and send a loud pop out the exhaust pipes. I think maybe it's a timing issue or something. I took everything back about but I can't get the timing cover off its something holding it in at the bottom

Injuneer

Are you sure you indexed the splined Opti drive shaft correctly to the cam sprocket? Are you sure you have all the plug wires in the correct order?

http://shbox.com/1/93-94_opti.jpg

http://shbox.com/1/opti.jpg

Dyoung_Z28

Is that spline pointing downwards? 8 can't see inside the timing cover, and the opti spline is placed at an angle

Injuneer

The location of the spline notch varies with the position of the crank/cam in their rotation.

Depending on what Opti you purchased, the splined shaft may be removable from the back of the Opti, like it is with the OEM units. Then you could put the shaft correctly into the cam sprocket, being sure not to force it, then align the same "odd tooth" setup on the Opti end of the shaft with the splines in the Opti. Both ends of the factory shaft are keyed with the same spline arrangement. Doing it that way, it's easier to see what you are doing.

What brand Opti did you buy? Did you loc-tite the rotor screws before the install? Some of the ebay cheap Chinese ripoffs are often dead out of the box. All of them have a tendancy for the rotor screws to back out over time.

Dyoung_Z28

I got mines from oriellys suppose to be oem. I didn't force it in the camshaft but in order for it to line up I had to spin the one on the opti