im new to this website but since last week my car wont start, i took off my thermost because my car was overheating and i wanted to see if it will stop overheting and i didnt notice that i didnt put the gasket back , after driving for about 6 or 7 blocks i notice my car is shaking alot and than half a block more the car just turns off. when i pulled to the side and opened the hood the water was coming out of the water pump and was wetting everything around, i ended up pushing the car home and i left my hazards on and a few hours later my battery died i forgot to turn em off now i have a new battery and the motor just keeps cranking but wont start does anyone know what it could be, me and a friend tried starting it with starter fluid but still nothing just tries to start but dies out

 

Does the car have any mods, what's the mileage and has it had any recent work done/tune-ups?

If the water pump was leaking that bad it probably blew the opti (right behind/under the water pump). That would cause a no start symptom. There isn't a separate gasket for the water neck when installing a thermostat either, just the o-ring built into the thermostat.

I would replace the water pump, a new GM opti and get a new opti harness from EFI Connection at the bare minimum. Now might be a good time to convert to the 95+ vented opti.

 

only a k&n cold air intake and no cat it has 168XXX miles and i just changed the oil with full synthtic oil 2 weeks ago, the car was from a friend of mine and his mechanic just changed the water pump 2 months ago, also where can i buy the opti and around how much would it come out to? and how can i check if the opti is blown or not? sorry for asking so much it's that im trying to learn and also i dont have money to pay a mechanic and i don't know that much about these cars

 

also can i just go to a junkyard and get one off of like a caprice or any other car that came with the lt1?

 

Buy a new, complete GM (AC Delco or Delphi) unvented Opti. This is one source:

http://shbox.com/1/4th_gen_tech2.html#Dal_and_Jason

There is also one eBay site that sells the OEM Delphi parts cheap. Look for "thepartsladi". Any other eBay seller is probably a ripoff.

Before you buy, pull all the wires (plug and coil) off the Opti and dry out the wire towers, dry and clean them with a wire brush, and inspect the ends of all the wires for corrosion. Clean it up, if you find it, or replace the wires. Then pull the harness connector off the Opti. Inspect for corrosion and/or damaged pins. Dry it out as well. If severely damaged, get a new harness extension, running from the gray connector on the bracket on the passenger side of the intake manifold to the Opti.

See if that helps.... you might get lucky.

The "vented" Opti is a good idea, but its VERY expensive, requiring a new cam, new timing set, a new timing cover, and a new harness extension, plus the vented Opti vacuum lines with backflow preventer and flow limiters.