I am curious how many hate the Optispark distributor. Basically i have owned my 94z28 for 6 years and for 30,000miles....basically the optispark is consitantly going bad every 15,000miles.....and well costs me...a lot of money because its expensive and hard to replace with the labor costs. Anyone else have this problem....i am guessing someone out there has to have a problem too....i take care of my car perfectly and it is in perfect mechanical condition....so it drives me nuts when the opti unexpectedly takes a months worth of pay from me or more....i called GM but they don't care and said its not under warranty....so too bad.....and said they put no time frame on when parts will fail and what else in my car could be making it do this.....i am almost sure from my mechanic and myself that everything is fine with my car....i don't have any after market parts except exhaust and a cai....so they cant say i have something from the aftermarket doing this....so just curious....i have talked to a few people...some have opti's that have lasted forever...150,000miles....while another person said his has crapped out on his 4 times in 120,000...mine is well on its way and i only have 55,000 miles...and i am angry that i have no money and no reasons for this failing so repeatedly.

 

i dont hate mine yet. 80k on original one.

 

What? Someone hates the opti? I don't think there are very many on this board that hate the opti. We all love it!!!! NOT.

Get the Autozone opti. It has a lifetime warranty on it. At least you get a free replacement when it goes bad.

 

I'd be curious as to why it has gone out so many times in so few miles. My original opti tanked at 95K...show me an old school distributor that can last that long and then I'll be upset about it.

If it's going out every 15K miles, I'd be looking for another problem that's causing the opti to go bad and not blaming the opti itself.

 

So what is the average mileage this thing goes out?

 

Dont like it take it off see how far you get.

 

Never had a problem here. 83k on the original and just replaced it when the waterpump was changed.

 

I still have the original opti and plug wires going on 216,000.

Am still getting 27+ mpg riding at 2000 +/- 200 RPMs (between 70 - 80 MPH) - depending on the turf (hills and such).

Exhaust pipes have virtually no carbon residue. Must be the oil and the lack of abuse (have never burnt any rubber). Not that you abuse your Z, but luck at times is the driving factor.

I did try to replace the Opti and wires at a local Chevy dealer the other week and was told by the repair crew to leave it alone - as long as it works...

Magnolia does consume 1/4 of a quart of oil per every 3000 miles.

Guess she was assembled during the middle of the week, huh?

ciao pue - happy trails

 

I got 130k on mine and my car still runs without any problems or hesitation

 

Usually it's not the opti taking a crap that kills the car...something else kills the opti and then it goes downhill from there. In my case, my water pump decided it was going to puke all of my coolant through the opti, and then it stopped working.

Some other people have run their cars though car washes that clean the underside of the car...where's the weep hole on the opti? The bottom. Duh! Problems waiting to happen there.

Then there are others that just had the opti wear out on them...at a very high mileage. I would expect that to happen, considering the way the opti is designed. It's not going to last forever...I'm surprised that we're not required to change them more often than we do.

If you really think about it, who are the people who (usually) have optis go out on them? It's usually the guys that buy '94 or '95 cars and then say (*this* year) that the opti crapped out and it's a piece of junk. Well, yeah...it's not indestructable...but 8 or 9 years is *really* good for an opti if you disassemble one and see what it's made of.

 

~99K on the stock Opti - Failed Waterpump killed it.

140.00 rebuild from Napa. Im not at 114K and no issues at all.

 

I find all of this opti talk very interesting. Before I was aware that water can destroy the opti, I would always wash my engine on a monthly basis, and I still have the original opti that came with the car.

 

Good point on what one gets as a used (and most probably abused...) Z28.

Ditto on washing one's engine on a regular basis - I too am guilty.

Look Ma - no Opti problems....

 

i still have the original opti. 83K and i was the motor really good atleast once a month/2 months for the last 5 years

 

I'd be curious as to whether your mechanic has changed the breather line and filter to the opti...every 15K definitely implies something else is going on. I've got 75K on my original opti, no problems. <knock on wood>