Alright, I remember when GM changed my opti(I was in the middle of a long road-trip so they were the only people I trusted to do it) I had issues as soon as I left the dealership- I went back and the tech noticed that my harness wire was corroded- he supposedly repaired the wire b/c they couldn't get one right away and I had to leave.

It's been about 20k miles since then. Anyway I have been having very slight issues with stumbling/etc that I couldn't chase down so I decided to replace the opti wire. I finally get the sucker pulled off and the terminals are completely green. I look down into the opti with my flashlight and it's the same deal.

Now I'm hesitant to put my new wire in b/c the corrosion will no doubt just spread again. What are my options? Will I have to pull the opti, take it apart, and clean it(I hope not).

On another note, I did take the car to a GM dealer while the opti was still under the 1year warranty. I told them that's what I thought was causing the issue, but they could never fix it. Do I have some kind of recourse if I can take it to a dealer now and prove that's what it is? I know that's how it works with warranties on new cars, but I'm not sure if I have a chance with a part/repair warranty.

Thanks for all the help guys
-P.J

 

Well chances are they won't do anything since you've touched it. Liability is gone when someone else takes it apart. I'm sure you can order a new harness for the opti.

 

I would have never noticed the problem if I hadn't touched it. I see the point w/ liability, but I think it's also easy to point out that by touching it I did not cause the corrosion that they should have detected when I pointed out there was a problem and told them I believed it was opti related.

In any case I did buy a new wire, but my issue is that I can also see corrossion on the opti end of the terminals, so am not sure what I am going to have to do. Is it possible to take apart and clean?

I know there are other people that had to buy this connector, what did you guys do?

Thanks

 

You can clean the terminals possibly with a small amount of baking soda and water... Replacing the wire from GM is stupidly expensive (300 cdn for that tiny wire). There are place to get the wire for around 20$-40$ but i dont know where those site are any more.

I would replace the wire and see if your stumbling goes away, otherwise replace that opti.

 

I did get a new wire, but I can see plenty of green on the female end (inside the opti). Unfortunately it's so deep(the plug is about 2" long) I can't get in there with the opti on the car.

Can I clean those terminals with the opti off the car?

 

They make a electrical contact cleaner in an aerosol can. It's like brake parts cleaner for electric motors and such. Try finding a can of this, and get a paintbrush or something else that will go inside the plug recess and try to clean it as best you can. If you cant find any of this just get some carb and choke cleaner and do as best you can(baking soda is awesome for battery terminals but you don't want water anywhere near an opti). Put some dielectric grease on the wire ends when you reinstall everything. You may have not got rid of all the corrosion but you can prevent it from getting worse.

 

I've had to buy that wire harness(and optis) several times in the past 2 yrs because my car eats optis every few hundred miles or so, heck, the last last one lasted 15 minutes! I have tried every dang electrical contact cleaner I could find and it just won't clean it that well. It will only clean the very ends that are almost exposed, but won't clean all the blue corrosion inside.

www.casperselectronics.com has the opti harness for $35, about 42-43 shipped. I just got one the other day from them. You can't really find it on the site, you gotta call them.

BTW- the dielectric grease doesn't work, I have done it twice. Instead, you just get mushy blue corrosion.

 

The opti is a rats nest. I have replaced three. It's not a fun place to be. I have rebuilt three, and, now I am machining my own parts. The opti is the worst designed piece on an LT1.