whew glad I found this thread. I am thinking about going the LTCC route since my opti is dying. I am going to pull the opti soon and I was wondering if I'll be able to tell if the optical sensor is good or not upon removal. Because if its no good then I'll need a new opti for the sensor plus the LTCC system. If thats the case im just going to forget LTCC and get a AC Delco OEM and pray that it doesn't die on me.

 

anybody?

 

what part of the opti is dying?

The LTCC requires a healthy optical pickup so it can decode the cylinder numbers.

Bob

 

Most opti deaths are worn out cap and rotors and those a wear items that should be taken care of at tuneup time. Problem is most guys are not bright enough to understand that and blindly curse the opti despite the fact it is a good piece. Like said above the back half of the opti still has to function for all the "opti eliminators" to work so all you are doing is replacing a $150 cap and rotor with $600 worth of extra parts.

 

well im on my stock opti right now with 106K

I got the low-res fail code 16 stored. weird thing is, I remember the SES light coming on for about 30 to 40 seconds then dissapearing but my engine didn't shut up like its supposed to. and its been running rougher and rougher lately. Its got hiccups and the tach needle likes to bounce up and down with little jolts.

my stock waterpump went out recently so I believe thats why my opti is dying.

Either way I believe i'm going to have to pull off the current opti. I was just wondering how obvious it is to tell what caused to opti

 

any other thoughts on these setups?
old thread but i figured id bring it back up.

 

In my opinion, it's still really hard to beat the LTCC setup. I just bought and installed my second one. When the one year old stock opti went out on my (now sold) 94 Z28, to be sure it was the opti, I pulled the LTCC (plus the coils, plug wires) off my 96 (took 30 minutes max, point to point) and she fired right up. I sold the 94 with the LTCC still on it and just bought another. The LTCC has had a bit of an update. It used to come with one long lead/connector for each coil. You ended up with a 'bag of snakes' look in your engine compartment because it had to be able to reach coils from the Controller in both Impala SS(big engine compartment) as well as the Fbody. Now the LTCC just has one lead/connector for each cylinder bank (requires you to find a stock LS1 coil connector harness). I got all 8 used coils AND the wiring harnesses for them from the camaroz8 classifieds for $80 shipped.

 

I was wondering is the module included in the 400 or is it part of the seperate things that need to be purchased.

 

To what does the '400' relate? Can you tell me what post number in this thread is connected with that?
Thanks,
Dave

 

Yes Wayne, the controller is included in the 400 (as in dollars, Dave?).

 

Aaaaaahhhhh the great thing about this board is that it certainly promotes discussion! I would totally disagree with the statement highlighted above. Remember, whenever either the High Resolution DTC code 36 or the Low Resolution DTC 16 is set ..... it indicates a fault with the optical portion of the Optispark.

Furthermore, an Optispark will not just "up and die" due to a worn cap and rotor. It's performance will, of course, degrade as the cap and rotor wear, (and your secondary ignition circuit resistance increases), but ..... you will definately feel an engine "miss" developing as the cap and rotor wear. Sudden or total failures of the Optispark are almost always due to failure of the optical portion of the distributor.

 

Ahh yes quick death as in the car started/ran fine 2 times in 30 minutes and then 3 hours later absolutely nothing! This darn opti only has about 2000 miles on it!!

 

1fastlt1, if it's any consolation to you, (and, yes I know misery loves company), I put a completely brand new "ebay thepartsladi" OEM Delphi Optispark on my car just this past Summer, (maybe mid/late July???), with a new and upgraded vent harness, and brand new Opti electrical connector, and the car has less than 1,200 miles on it, and currently shows a High Resolution DTC code 36 failure.

 

So you don't think that a worn and carbon tracked cap and rotor could cause the spark to find an alternate route out, and damage the electronics on it's way???

That and a LOT of optis have been replaced without ever setting a code because the ignorant masses preach what a "problem" the opti is so as soon as a car runs bad the opti is the first and only suspect, till replacing it doesn't work.

 

Unless things have changed, electricity still flows from negative to positive.
My question is: when an opti starts to sputter can we get good results by replacing the cap and rotor ...especially when the symptom is identical to condensation in an old style distributor? Like on rainy days with cool nights on a 1977 chevy v8?