This is my 1st LT1 F-body, so ive never had to deal with the opti demon I hear so much about, hope thats all this is.

I was out this moring for only about 2 hours, took the car downtown to take care of some biz than back to Altamonte.
I pulled up at the bank window & all was normal, but as soon as I pulled away things got funny.
I was in a parking lot, so I was only going about 10mph, hardly using the gas, the car felt like it was kinds chuging along, almost like i had a flat.

Tires are fine, I was like WTF, then I get the thing out on the road & give it a little gas.
I thought it was gonna stall & die, the more gas a gave it the worse it got.
It was chuging & surging along, missfiring & poping, felt like I blew the damn thing up.
My SES light came on, a quick scan of the gauges & the temp was fine, but my oil psi was going up & down a little, with the surging of the car.

The Z28 limped home, good thing I was close.
Once I got here in the car port I noticed the exhaust smell was strange, kinda stinky.
I also noticed a very very small amout of smoke or steam come out from the engine bay, when I poped the hood..

I check all my fluids, my oil was at the correct level & clean, the rest of the fluids checked out fine & nothing was leaking.
I checked all the connections on my mass air & elbow, all was in order there too.

I called my good buddy up whos a F-body guru.
1st thing he said was sounds like the opti, I asked about the small amount of smoke.
He said it was prolly due to unburned fule the injectors were pumping, while the car was missfiring.
He said let it cool off for a while, then try to restart it, if it's a bad opti 99% of the time it will run ok for a bit, when it's cool.

Sure as hell I started the car a a few hours later & it ran like normal!
I only let a run for about 25 min, but i didnt drive it, seemed to be ok for that short amount of time.

I just thought I would ask everyone heres opinion too.
Funny thing is my car only has 59K miles, I thought opti's took a sh%$ at 70-100K.

 

I am no guru so he might be right if it was me though I would check my fuel pressure underload first, and then check the cat.
-b

 

Cool i'll do that too, thanks.
The opti was just the 1st thing my buddy could think of given the info I gave him over the phone.
He has yet to see the car in person, but your right, he said he really couldnt give me 100% on that, till he looks at it.
I also have another friend comming by with a can tool, to read the codes.

It strange b/c there were no signs of this comming, the car ran great & I take great care of it as well.
Just all a sudden!

 

Definately opti dude, especially since it just started outa no where like that. The surging you described is WAYYY to drastic to be a burned plug wire or some $hit so it's gotta be opti! Oh well, #30-1833 lifetime warranty at autozone, then never gotta worry again

 

Thanks for the part #.

 

I've heard that autozone and electronics are two words that don't belong in the same sentence. Maybe someone can chim in here and verify.

 

My friend put a scan tool on the car & this is the code it gave us "P1361".
Anybody know what that code is for????

 

TTT anybody know what that code means.

 

No Autozones near me sell them anymore. At least the 6 I called. My 2nd Opti just crapped out, I only have 81K and I am on my third.

 

There is a complete code list on my Tech Page.

P1361 Ignition Control (IC) circuit high voltage (shorted or grounded circuit)

Might be your ICM. They can also act up when hot and ok when cool. Make sure the connections to it are clean and tight and the wiring is in good shape.