In the past 4 and a half years I've gone through 11 opti's. Yes 11. The first time mine went I bought a brand new GM one which lasted a year until a coolant leak killed it. From then on out I've been using reman units from Pep Boys/Autozone.

As far as the actual product both companies have horrible reman optis (Never had one last more than 6 months and a few lasted as long as a couple weeks) but I figured I'd give you guys a peak into the process as I have observed it.

Any nut or bolt that is a factory style bolt (For example, I believe its an inverted Torx for the optical reader) is a component that HAS NOT been replaced. Autozone always seems to replace the bolts of any component that gets replaced with flathead screws and leaves factory bolts for anything that is not.

They DO NOT do a good job of checking the bushings. I've discovered that it seems like when they replace an optical reader they do not bother to replace the bushing with it. Many times when the factory optical reader is there, the bushing usually ends up being good, seems that if the optical reader works when tested by them they assume the bushing was the cause of failure and it is replaced.......... HOWEVER it must be a quick test of the reader because I've had bad ones from the get go that ran for twenty minutes then would die soon after imitating a intermittant opti problem

Also the readers are marked. New ones will not have any markings on them with flat head screws. A reused reader will have a dot marked on it. I've usually seen either a purple or white dot. So if you get a reman unit and the reader has a dot on it be wary that the reader has not been replaced (also will have flat head screws holding it in)

Well I figured I'd let you guys know my experience. Hope this helps with any future repairs.

 

" In the past 4 and a half years I've gone through 11 opti's. Yes 11."

jeezus

 

My feelings exactly! Must be something else wrong.

 

Either you're spinning it way too high, your cam's dowel is too long, or you need to learn your lesson and get an AC Delco!

 

What is the car doing when they go out? Does it just stop running completely, or does it just have a miss. I have a autozone opti and my car runs good at high rpms but I have a miss at Idle and low rpms.

 

Interesting. I always figured "reman" meant they tested the optical section, and if good, slapped a new cap/rotor on it.

It's good that they are doing more than that, but it makes no economic sense. Even with paying some 12 year old in a third world country 20c/hr to 'fix' those, once you add in the parts and shipping it's got to cost almost as much as the new one being made in the factory next door.

Sure enough - I just checked Kragen, and the price for a new Cardone is $3 more than a rebuilt Cardone...

 

Running a Carquest reman since 2003 with no issues.....

 

still got the factory original from 95!!!!

 

I ran an Autozone reman opti for years with no problems. But then I don't use their cap and rotor, just the base. I use MSD for the cap.

 

Spinning to 6500 at the track, but I never wind it out that much on the street. Don't believe its the cam dowel only because I had the same failure rate with a a stock cam. Trust me lol I've wanted to buy an AC Delco for a while, but since I'm cheap a free reman one due to lifetime warranty was always in my future. However I'm pretty sure they're cutting me off over at autozone for optis lol. Manager told me next time I'm just going to get a refund. That I promise is going to a Delco!

Now just to clear things up as far as other causes of failure, I do not like to go through the hassle of taking my car apart on my back in the driveway every couple of months and get soaked with coolant. I've exhausted every other possible cause of failure. It got to the point where I torqued every single bolt to spec just to eliminate the nagging feeling in my head that there was a possibility of me over tightening or under tightening something as a cause of failure. I work on cars for a living, if there was another cause of failure I think I should have found it by now after this motor has been rebuilt and transplanted into another car, the entire thing has been apart and it still eats them up just like before. Just been through the mill a couple times and share what I discovered.

 

Thanks so much for the input. I personally am having the same issue with my Autozone reman. I have gone through 4 in 2 years. One lasted all of 10 minutes before quitting on me.

I have changed everything exept the air hose from the opti to the plenum. I have heard this can help but have not done yet because I am not sure if GM makes it anymore.

 

If I went through that many I'd be goin LTCC.

 

I wouldn't tell that to everyone. That's just plain stupid. Most people know to use OEM for electrical parts.

What good is a lifetime warranty on a cheap part if the car is in the garage more than on the road? It's worth more to buy good parts the first time and be done with it.

Here's your sign

 

Correct!