I was driving my car home Saturday night and it started to backfire rapidly. So, I pulled into a parking lot and it turned it off. I tried to start it and it ran really rough and was backfiring. I turned it off again and waited before trying to start it again. So, when I tried starting it again it started fine and revved fine for about a minute untill it started backfiring. I had to have it towed home, which sucked. I was busy yesterday which restricired me from working on my car. Today, I used datamaster on it and recieved codes 16, 36, and 42. I did some searching and have concluded that I might have a faulty ground somewhere on the car, and that my opti is bad. The opti on the car has about 10,000 miles on it( about 2 years and never driven in the rain). I did notice that there was a slight oil drip coming off the opti about a year ago, but never got around to fixing it (probably seal behind opti).

What are you're guys insight on my problem. My car will not start. It tries to fire up but just can't.

 

Also, I was thinking if I have to replace the opti, I would rather buy a Deltec system. I know the cap and rotor don't have to be working properly, but the optical portion of the opti does. My question is, how would I determine if the optical portion is working properly in my opti?

 

16 and 36 are attributed to the optical portion of the optispark. So yours would be suspect or maybe you have a wiring/connection problem.

 

Today I cleared the codes and started my car up again. This time the only code that came up was 16, and the car still wouldn't run. I guess I will order a new opti tomorrow.

 

I would advise you to check your opti connectors first. There might be some corrosion there.

 

Glad I could help.

 

If I didn't have you guys I would lost. Everytime I encounter a problem on my car it makes me research about it. Like today I ended taking work off and researching previous posts about similar problems other board members had. Thanks guys (esp RamAir) for helping. I'll post up with new results later.

Jon

 

Wiring harness to your opti I would say.