I was getting ready to replace my opti and the front of the engine was pretty grimey, it has never been cleaned in 250,000 miles. I bought 4 cans of Gunk and sprayed 2 of them on, soaking everything down. I waited about 15 min and took the water hose and REALLY soaked it down, spraying the opti and everything else on the front of the engine. Then I took the other 2 cans and did it again, SOAKED the front of the engine from the top and jacked it up and sprayed from underneath too. After it dripped off I tried to start it, it wouldnt fire. I waited about 10 minutes and tried it again, fired a couple of times. Waited about 15 minutes tried it again, it started sputtering then cleared up and ran great, took it for a drive and no problems at all. Came home, shut it off and it started right back up.
My point is, I really dont think the optis are as sensitive as they are made out to be. Mine has 180000 miles on the opti and didnt leak. I am still replacing it now because of mis firing at times.
just a FYI.
Ron

 

Friend of mine had no idea what an opti was when he got his TA... used to spray the hell out of the engine bay. He never had a problem.

 

i guess it is just one of those things that are either good for some and bad for some! what i mean is someone could go through a puddle and it could stop working but others like yourself can drench it and it works fine! weird parts these damn opti's!

 

Cap and rotor are neglected wear items on most. Vacuum harnesses can also plug and cause ozone buildup and corrosion, aside from that it is a solid piece. I do not hesitate to drive at speed through several inches of water if given the chance. The wife hates riding in my car during heavy downpours be cause of this. She finds walls of water blocking all sideview unnerving.

 

technically the opti is sealed from the outside, as long as the seal is still in good shape getting it wet should not be a problem, getting the wires wet on the other hand can cause them to arc

 

As others have pretty much stated it's nothing more than a cap and rotor. I've had coolant dump on mine for a week before I figured out why I had such bad missfires when applying load on the engine. Dried it out and it worked fine. I cringe to think of the many optis that have been mistaken for being bad and discarded.

 

bahaha christ just seeing this thread in the forum just made me laugh my *** off. congrats

 

very funny thread indeed.

 

I have a brand new opti sitting around ready to go in. I have also been getting the strong urge to really hose down the engine bay and see what would happen. I agree though, I don't think the opti is as bad as it is made out to be and I think it its one of the easier things to get misdiagnosed on these cars.

 

my opti imploded while coasting down a hill. these optis make no sense.

 

I agree! I like to keep my engine clean and I spray the engine bay at the car wash all the time. I do avoid blasting the Opti directly, just like I would with any other distributor.
I know guys that have very dirty engines because they're afraid to spray their engines at all.

 

Like me!

 

so i went to hop in my 94 t/a to change the head gaskets on it, and it wont even start now.
it has rained here for about a day straight, and the temp went from about 40 to 65 in about 5-6 hours.
the entire motor is filled with condensation, and it wont even fire.

hoping if i just let it sit, it will fire later on.


aaron

 

i think im going to de grease and soak my motor also. Im getting a new opti so what the hell.
In the show and shine section theres a thread about cleaning the engine bay. Plenty of guys said they simple green it follow by the hose. I couldnt believe it, but their opti's lived.

 

That was me before mine blew up! Sprayed my engine off on my way to work one day. Came out that night and it wouldn't crank. It sat there for EIGHT DAYS before it fianlly dried out and started up!

I never washed it off again!

I didn't even know what an opti was back then.