I have a 1996 Firebird Formula with 66K on the LT1. My car would run rough then after about 5-10 minutes of driving would die and not start again for a day or so.
Now I had this exact same problem with my 93 Z28 and it was the water pump leaking onto the optispark, so I figured I'd replace it.
I bought a opti from ebay (probably a bad move) heres a link

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...m=360084033453

Once I installed it and put it back together it won't start at all. I was thinking it was the crappy ebay opti, so I put the OEM opti back on and now it won't start with that one either.

When I removed the water pump it pissed on the OEM opti, could that have broken it completely?
Is there anything else I could have messed up when I put it back together?
All the wires and connectors look like they're hooked up right.
I am trying to get another AC Delco Opti is there anything else I should check first?

It had a new coil, new spark plugs, and I checked the resistance of the plug wires which was ok before I took off the OEM Opti.

 

I would say yo got a bad opti. start with a good opti and see what you get. Yes watergetting on the opti can ruin it real fast. The opti seems to be a big part of most problems like this from what i read. My water pump leaked just a littlle bit from the weep hole and sure enough my opti was ruined.

 

did you just slap the opti on? did you align it right?

 

Werd! Its got to go back on a certain way, do a quick search for shoebox, should be ton of material on it.

 

Please let me know if i'm wrong, but I thought the distributor can only sit flush on the timing cover if the camshaft pin lines up with it correctly.
Which means it can only go in one way right?

I got the position of the camshaft pin on the old opti to match the one on the new opti and it sat flush and bolted right in.

 

if it wont start at all, then its not on correctly. my friend just did this too. thought he had it on right, but the cam dowel wasnt in the slot on the opti. there are 3 ways it can go on and make you feel like its on right, but only 1 was will work.

take her apart and make sure you line up the cam and opti. tripple check before putting back together

 

also before its all completely slapped back together, seeif you can start it and run it for a couple of seconds. that will let you know if its correct before you put the water pump and all that back on.

 

How can it go on 3 ways? there is only one slot for the dowel on the distributor and only 1 slot for the camshaft, which means if its not lined up on either end it won't sit flush at all right?

I've looked through my manual several times and it doesn't mention lining it up. If I'm wrong can somebody please send me a link for the correct procedure to do this?

I tried looking on shbox.com and couldn't find a opti install writeup.

OOPS I put the car was a 96 in my 1st post, its actually a 94 .
So its a non vented opti, is it that the vented optis can go in 3 ways because their cam gear is different?

 

The reason they said there is 3 ways to put it on cause they thought you had a vented opti like below



But you can't actually get the pin into the other 2 slots unless you aren't paying attention.

What you need to do is put a cylinder at TDC and then remove the distributor cap and see if the rotor is pointing to the location of that cylinders contact.

Also notice there is no dowel pin until 95.

 

Ok so the on the 93 & 94 cars the distributor only goes in one way, on the 95-97 it can go in 3 ways.

So it was installed correctly, it looks like I just got a dead distributor. I ordered a delco replacement, hopefully it will start with a new one and I don't have something else thats broken.

Thanks for the help.

 

Can you really install this in one of the three ?? I looks like it can only really fit into ONE of the three openings...

Might be an issue that I have (refer to https://www.camaroz28.com/forums/sho...=1#post5651264)

Thanks,
Ivan

 

Just for kicks and grinns bud... here is a great run through for starting issues... so if you did install the opti right, you might want to do this check through...

http://mainstreamtopics.com/forums/i...p?showtopic=78