Finally...track times
Registered User
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,035
From: Houston, TX
I had a high rpm "pop" at the track (over 5000rpms, close to 5300rpms id say) and it turned out to be opti. No SES light (obd1 conversion here too) but it was a definite pop. I at first thought it was some sort of PCV problem, turned out it was opti. HTH
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Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 4,970
From: Goochland, Va.
I had an issue before too around 5800....dyno dropped aroung 40 h.p. but picked it right back up at 6k and no other rpoplems.....Checked everything on the car top to bottom, finally Brian from pcm for less said to try an opti. It took care of it
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 968
From: Wichita, KS
Welp, it's the opti 
I changed the plugs and installed a catch can tonight, and then decided to take the car for a spin to see if it helped...I got almost a mile from my house before it popped and sputtered cruising 35 mph in 4th under steady light throttle this time...and then died.
I called some friends that live around the corner to help. They showed up and help me get it home and back into my garage,
...and now I've been drinking beer since about 10:30ish thinking about how pissed I am that I have to replace my 1 month and 250 mile old opti with a new one
Have a lovely evening, I'll report back when I'm sober.
I changed the plugs and installed a catch can tonight, and then decided to take the car for a spin to see if it helped...I got almost a mile from my house before it popped and sputtered cruising 35 mph in 4th under steady light throttle this time...and then died.
I called some friends that live around the corner to help. They showed up and help me get it home and back into my garage,
...and now I've been drinking beer since about 10:30ish thinking about how pissed I am that I have to replace my 1 month and 250 mile old opti with a new one
Have a lovely evening, I'll report back when I'm sober.
Registered User
Joined: Oct 1998
Posts: 3,144
From: Jackstandican
At least it's the opti and not something engine related.
Your opti may be just fine. If it isn't throwing any codes related to the high/low res. pulse then it may be as simple as the rotor screws coming loose which can be fixed with a little loc-tite. Yeah it's a PITA since you have to take it off and all, but once again it's not internal and it's a relatively easy/cheap fix if it is indeed the rotor.
Good luck.
Your opti may be just fine. If it isn't throwing any codes related to the high/low res. pulse then it may be as simple as the rotor screws coming loose which can be fixed with a little loc-tite. Yeah it's a PITA since you have to take it off and all, but once again it's not internal and it's a relatively easy/cheap fix if it is indeed the rotor.
Good luck.
Registered User
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 3,245
From: Ocala, Florida
Reporting back from the garage....
I pulled the valve covers...and found absolutely nothing wrong. No loose poly locks, no broken valve springs, no rockers too tight, nothing
I even bumped the motor over several times and looked over everything very closely with a flashlight. Everything looks great.
Then I was thinking that I must have a burned plug wire or something, but no, all the plug wires are still zip tied out of harm's way. So I made sure that they were all snapped in place on the spark plugs as well on the opti terminals. The only thing that turned up was that the coil wire wasn't quite snapped all the way on to the terminal on the opti. Apparently, it was making good enough connection to start and run the car, so I doubt that was the problem.
The one thing that I found that doesn't look good is the inside of the intake is covered in oil. I tried to prevent this by putting a BF412 filter in the passenger valve cover, and it worked so far because the inside of the crankcase vent hose was bone dry. So the oil must be coming from the pcv system. I guess I need a catch can.
Is it possible that my motor is sucking enough oil from the pcv to cause my popping @5800+???
Thats all I can come up with so far.....
I guess my plan of action is putting in a fresh set of TR6's (Autolite 104s in it right now), and installing a catch can. Then if the problem still persists....bad opti maybe?
I pulled the valve covers...and found absolutely nothing wrong. No loose poly locks, no broken valve springs, no rockers too tight, nothing
I even bumped the motor over several times and looked over everything very closely with a flashlight. Everything looks great.Then I was thinking that I must have a burned plug wire or something, but no, all the plug wires are still zip tied out of harm's way. So I made sure that they were all snapped in place on the spark plugs as well on the opti terminals. The only thing that turned up was that the coil wire wasn't quite snapped all the way on to the terminal on the opti. Apparently, it was making good enough connection to start and run the car, so I doubt that was the problem.
The one thing that I found that doesn't look good is the inside of the intake is covered in oil. I tried to prevent this by putting a BF412 filter in the passenger valve cover, and it worked so far because the inside of the crankcase vent hose was bone dry. So the oil must be coming from the pcv system. I guess I need a catch can.
Is it possible that my motor is sucking enough oil from the pcv to cause my popping @5800+???
Thats all I can come up with so far.....
I guess my plan of action is putting in a fresh set of TR6's (Autolite 104s in it right now), and installing a catch can. Then if the problem still persists....bad opti maybe?
Registered User
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 3,245
From: Ocala, Florida
Welp, it's the opti
I changed the plugs and installed a catch can tonight, and then decided to take the car for a spin to see if it helped...I got almost a mile from my house before it popped and sputtered cruising 35 mph in 4th under steady light throttle this time...and then died.
I called some friends that live around the corner to help. They showed up and help me get it home and back into my garage,
...and now I've been drinking beer since about 10:30ish thinking about how pissed I am that I have to replace my 1 month and 250 mile old opti with a new one
Have a lovely evening, I'll report back when I'm sober.
I changed the plugs and installed a catch can tonight, and then decided to take the car for a spin to see if it helped...I got almost a mile from my house before it popped and sputtered cruising 35 mph in 4th under steady light throttle this time...and then died.
I called some friends that live around the corner to help. They showed up and help me get it home and back into my garage,
...and now I've been drinking beer since about 10:30ish thinking about how pissed I am that I have to replace my 1 month and 250 mile old opti with a new one
Have a lovely evening, I'll report back when I'm sober.
I found signs of acring with my stock cap/rotor so I replaced it with an msd cap/rotor. Since you are taking it apart you might as well just do that if the optical sensor is fine. I took my msd apart 1000 miles later and it still looks brand new inside, no signs of arcing at all.
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 968
From: Wichita, KS
At least it's the opti and not something engine related.
Your opti may be just fine. If it isn't throwing any codes related to the high/low res. pulse then it may be as simple as the rotor screws coming loose which can be fixed with a little loc-tite. Yeah it's a PITA since you have to take it off and all, but once again it's not internal and it's a relatively easy/cheap fix if it is indeed the rotor.
Good luck.
Your opti may be just fine. If it isn't throwing any codes related to the high/low res. pulse then it may be as simple as the rotor screws coming loose which can be fixed with a little loc-tite. Yeah it's a PITA since you have to take it off and all, but once again it's not internal and it's a relatively easy/cheap fix if it is indeed the rotor.
Good luck.
If you are sucking enough oil into your engine through the pcv to cause it to start breaking up you have bigger problems. I'm running a breather on each valve cover with the tb hose blocked off and a catch can inline with the pcv line. I'm getting no oil in the intake that way. The filter inline with the tb line did absolutly nothing in my case, it was still getting oil through.
I found signs of acring with my stock cap/rotor so I replaced it with an msd cap/rotor. Since you are taking it apart you might as well just do that if the optical sensor is fine. I took my msd apart 1000 miles later and it still looks brand new inside, no signs of arcing at all.
Thanks for all the helpful suggestions, everyone
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 968
From: Wichita, KS
Ok I'm gonna scream
I tore the car apart tonight to change the opti, when I got the cap off...no loose rotor. In fact everything still looked brand new inside to my surprise. I figured it probably had a bad optical sensor so I went ahead and installed a new opti (no big deal since my opti was new enough to be under warranty still)
Then I thought to myself that it would be a good idea to make sure that I have spark now before I put the water pump and everything back together...
Guess what?.......
STILL NO SPARK!!!!!
I have triple checked all my connections, everything looks fine. I can't believe now that I went through the hassle of swaping my opti out for no reason. I'm gonna be so pissed at myself if it turns out to be a bad ICM or coil. Those are a helluva lot easier to change.
Well I guess off to the parts store in the morning to test my ICM. If thats not it, I'm not sure what to look at next. Coil maybe...but I doubt it given the symptoms that it had. I thought for sure it was the opti
Boy do I feel like a jacka$$.
I just hope I can get it figured out tommorrow so I can still make it to the track sunday.....
I guess I need to look at the bright side.
The bright side is....uh....well....
....It's doin wheelies in the garage right now
I tore the car apart tonight to change the opti, when I got the cap off...no loose rotor. In fact everything still looked brand new inside to my surprise. I figured it probably had a bad optical sensor so I went ahead and installed a new opti (no big deal since my opti was new enough to be under warranty still)
Then I thought to myself that it would be a good idea to make sure that I have spark now before I put the water pump and everything back together...
Guess what?.......
STILL NO SPARK!!!!!
I have triple checked all my connections, everything looks fine. I can't believe now that I went through the hassle of swaping my opti out for no reason. I'm gonna be so pissed at myself if it turns out to be a bad ICM or coil. Those are a helluva lot easier to change.
Well I guess off to the parts store in the morning to test my ICM. If thats not it, I'm not sure what to look at next. Coil maybe...but I doubt it given the symptoms that it had. I thought for sure it was the opti
Boy do I feel like a jacka$$.I just hope I can get it figured out tommorrow so I can still make it to the track sunday.....
I guess I need to look at the bright side.
The bright side is....uh....well....
....It's doin wheelies in the garage right now
Last edited by Colin91Z; Nov 3, 2007 at 01:03 AM.
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 968
From: Wichita, KS
So I bought a new coil since it was only $30...still nothing.
This is what I should have done in the first place...I found that the ignition fuse was blown, so I replaced it and went to check for spark again....as soon as I turn the ignition on it blew the fuse again! WTF!?!? What could be causing that? I figure that chances are whenever I find what's causing that fuse to blow...I probably have found what was causing this all along.
Well, if anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears. In the meantime, I'm gonna be hitting up the search function on this message board......