Well, I think I was one of the first on the board to get and install an Accel opti-spark. Here's my old thread:

http://web.camaross.com/forums/showt...ighlight=accel

I had nothing but good to say about it, until today. I put about 1 year, and 10,000 miles on the distributor. I feel bad too, casue well, I just recommended it to a member via PM about a week ago. It turns out my car has thrown an high res signal code. This is code 36 for those who are curious.

Once the car warms up, the circuitry for the high res pulse signal degrades and fails. The car will bog, sometimes backfire and the SES light will cut the next time you press the accelerator. The car then seems to run fine from there on out. After my research, this is due to the car changing adjusting and running off just the low res pulse signal.

It took me a week of poking through the board and speculating before I finally got a chance to get the code scanned. I thought it was a sensor of some type for about a week. A scan tool is definately on my list of "to haves" after this incident. Simply scanning the car saves a lot of time and frustration.

Thanks to Injuneer for his posts and helping me figure out what was wrong with my car... my search came up with multiple threads where he explains the high/low res signals and how they work.

Now... what to do. Go back to OEM? I'm a bit frustrated... I just want the car to run right.

 

I got a brand nw Accel many months ago which I have still not installed. I cracked it open to see what was ifferent and found a few things I did not like.

1. The case was not air tight, I hooked a mity-vac up to the air outlet and plugged the inlet. There was air being sucked into the opti at the sensor mounting screw which might have led to leaks.

2. I found some light debris inside it.

3. The stainless segmented pulse wheel was badly warped to the point that it rubbed the optical sensor. You could even hear it rub as you rotated the shaft. There is no way in hell this is normal.

I called Accel and let em' have it for poor quality products and he sent me a replacement. I desected this new one and it was much better in terms of the issues listed above. What I am going to do is use the GM opti I have off my engine with the Accel cap an rotor whic look far superior.

Steve0, my guess is you might have he warped pulse wheel that may be essing up the optical sensor causing thos codes. Take it apart and look it over and call Accel for a replacement.

 

Not Good!!!

I just installed one of these opti's last night... it did fit well...
so far that is the only good thing i can say about it...

i will have to keep my eye on it and let you know how it worked out for me...

 

I don't like the whole "oilite bushing" thing instead of an actual bearing.

 

Isn't Accel known for producing less than stellar components? When I was replacing my injectors I was glad I couldn't find any as I heard from several people after the fact that they are junk. I'm not sure that's the case for all of their products, but I know I would no longer consider them a source for replacement parts.

 

sound like their QC and test department suck...

 

Accel's injectors were junk but I am hearing they got their act together now on that. That is one product line that was bad, it does not make the company as a whole bad.
The 300+ ignition and Extreme 9000 wires are very nice products.

All that said the opti part of the stock opti is very reliable, slap on an MSD cap and rotor and call it good. A few folks have had some issues with the MSD rotors but they seem eager to fix it and it seems isolated rather than common.

Before comdening the Accel opti though I would say try swapping the harness that runs from the side of the intake down too it. The female terminals are known to loosen up over time and cause problems.

 

I think the bushing might be a good idea, it will not rust or corrode.

I think anyone that uses this opti better look at the pulse wheel prior to install. The bad one that I had would have worn that sensor away.

 

Maybe I shouldn't have been so harsh as I have no actual first hand experience with any of their products and all I've really heard about are their injectors. For all I know MSD might not be any better, but I hope not as I've committed to purchasing their coil & opti.

 

Thats terrible news. I would just throw in a Delco replacement and call it a day. If you get one from Jason or Dal, you'll probably end up spending close to what you did for the Accel piece.

 

Don't put an accell cap on a gm opti. I did this and the rotor cut into the cap and ruined it. No the dowel pin was not too long, Ive had several optis and this is the only one to ever rub. Cut a groove in the rotor too.

The cap would not seal on the gm opti either. Once it failed I took it apart again and there was debris everywhere.

I still have not seen once cheaper than a gm from Jason.

 

I will keep this in mind but I dont see why this would be a problem, the opti base in the GM and the Accel are the exact same part aside from a shiny finish.

 

The thing with MSD is that you have to put the cap on yourself or at least mine did. I have had trouble with my car ever since i put my MSD on so im not sure to praise MSD either. The guy who is looking at it now said that once the engine starts cutting out and dieing it is losing crank signal to the PCM so there may be a problem with the harness on the MSD's.

 

****, I just got one about 6 weeks ago. it will be on the car this week. I will tell you how it works for me

 

Did you buy the entire opti? It wasn't fully assembled? When did you get it? I've been told that MSD did some redesign after their initial production runs to address some issues. But, I haven't heard that directly from MSD.