Hey I just replaced my cap/rotor and opti yesterday. I did this because the engine was running really crappy and missing and backfiring. So upon inspection of the cap and rotor I found that the rotor tip was broken and the cap showed severe carbon tracking from one contact to another.

I replaced the opti because it was sill under warranty.
When I start it now it is still hard to start (lots of cranking) but has way better power. But the engine still has a miss and the SES light is on. but goes away once warm.

I am gonna change the plugs today and take it to the shop to use the scanner and will post all numbers hot and cold.

Also the cat is glowing red.
any help is appreciated

thanks, will

 

oh yeah the car also pings under acceleration.

 

Is your cat clogged? What is causing the SES light to come on? Codes stored?

 

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Also the cat is glowing red.
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Sounds like you have found your problem. You can have a shop check it to see if it bad or do like i did and buy one on Ebay for $50 and have it welded on for $15. The fee the shop might charge will be a lot higher and it appears to be an open and shut case. I cut my cat off and drove it removed.

 

What year is your car? Might want to add a "signature" with basic info like year, model, tranny type, and any major mods.

Could it possibly be a 93/94? If so, could you possibly have aligned the splined Opti drive shaft incorrectly, causing too much ignition advance?

 

The shop says the cat is not the problem because it revvs so easily. The car is a 95 that had a 94 engine put in it that does utilize the spline drive opti. I installed it and I lined the indexing marks up with everthing and didnt force it to seat. Would a scanner be able to tell me if the timing is way advanced? what would be an ideal number to see?

thanks, will

I read the codes and there were two DTC 42 EST grounded
and DTC 43 ESC circuit problem what do these mean.

thanks, will

 

drop your I pipe and see if any of the beehive from the inside of the cat is sticking out or is broken and not in there properly. it should all be one big sturdy piece inside the cat. if not, take a long screwdriver and a hammer to it and chip it to pieces, starting the car every couple minutes to blow the broken beehive out. should fix your problem...and gain a few extra hp.

 

Cat is all in one piece and less than a year old I need the cat hear in Cali for inspection.

any other ideas what those code mean. I read on here the DTC 43 is for a knock sensor could this be because of the pinging?

thanks, will

 

DTC 43 if for the knock sensor, but when that code is set, the PCM retards the timing up to 15* to protect the engine. It will cause a loss of power, but will not cause pinging, unless of course your Opti is installed incorrectly, in which case the knock sensor might not pull enough timing even if it was working. And, pinging does not cause DTC 43. It is caused by a failed knock sensor circuit, either the sensor itself, the wire or a poor ground to the block.

DTC 42 is one of the hardest codes to track down. Relates to the IC Module (short or grounded circuit), but it can be caused by the coil, Opti, PCM, wiring, etc. Generally the easiest way to track down the problem is to get the diagnostic logic chart from the factory manual, and work your way through it systematically.

There is no way to check if the timing is correct with a scanner. A scanner will only tell you what advance the PCM is calculating from the timing table and offsets, but it has no way of knowing if the Opti is sending it the correct crank position.

 

To sum up what the above posts are saying: check your opti again. Make sure it is indexed properly.

 

I will check that as soon as possible. If I disconnect the knock sensor and clear the codes should it set that code again?

thanks for all the help, will

 

You have to figure out why the code set. The circuit voltage was not within the acceptable operating range (1.5 - 3.5V). If there was an intermittent problem, you may be able to clear the code and not have it set immediately. But it would be a smart idea to verify the PCM is supplying 5.0V measured between the single wire and the block (connector off sensor), that the resistance of the sensor is in the range of 3,500-5,500 ohms when measured from the single pin on the sensor to the block (connector off sensor), and that when the connector is on the sensor, you see a value between 1.5 - 3.5V, when probing from the wire or sensor pin to the block.

 

I will check that tomorrow thanks again i really appreciate all the ideas.

will