When I first removed the MSD 2 mths ago and it ran like crap. I put it back on and it ran OK. The MSD was covering up another problem. I was able to put about 2000 miles on it since then, but it had a stuble at times and felt like the timming was off a bit. Now it's a constant Misfire. I got it on the lift and didn't see any issues with the wires. The plugs and coil are new. I brought my ICM to the parts store to get tested. They didn't have the right hook up but the dude there was sayin he thought it might be the ECM. I was thinking it was the Opti-Spark crappin out. What would be the best way to find out if it's the Opti, ECM or somthing else based on the symptoms. Thanks Ya'll

 

One bad spark plug made my car run like crap..... I tought it was the Opty Spark.


Check all your spark plugs before you buy a new opty.


Marvin

 

The plugs are about 2000 miles old. Dbbl platinum Delco's. If it is the opti, is it the whole opti? is it just the cap? is it just the distributor? They're not sold together at the parts store. WTF?

 

My plugs were less than 1000 miles when one inside insulator cracked up.

Oh and I may be the only one on this board who had NGK spark plug problems twice in a row. I replaced my NGK's just last week again. Only this time they had clocked about 1500 miles on them. I again went with NGK and it has been running very smooth again.

Yesterday I pulled #1 out and it looked like it was runing one step cold. The electrode color was dark gray as opposed to medium to light tan/gray. There were carbon deposits building up on the metal part but not on the ceramic. No traces of Oil burning up. So I am puzzled. Are they selling me some bad Gas? I will change gas stations too.

I bought 4 brand new bosh single plat bosh plugs last nite and I will change one bank and compare after another week of driving to see if they too collect carbon or look like they are running cold like my new NGK's.

I dont want to blame the NGK's at this point if the problem is from something else, For example... the Ks maybe damaged... las night I put the old lady (my car) on the Scanner and gunned the engine several times... the Timing dropped to 9* degree but then I was pulling about 7*degree of knock retard before she even got to 2000 rpms... but if I smash the gas on a controlled manner it revs up much quicker and no engine knock... The Idle vacum is a steady 21* inches....so I know there arent any vacum leaks either.

I have to investigate where the probem is coming from.....

now going back to your problem... just check the plugs and check the Opty Spark plug wires conection to the Opty itself.. I replaced mine before it went bad (148k miles on it) and when I pullled one of the wires... dirt came out of the hole. I was told it was not making a good contact.. the spark may have been arching and that creates that dirt like material when the aluminung contacts rust.. or something like that.


Just trying to save you some cash

Marvin

 

From the constant and steady misfire on the same cyl tells me that the problem is in the cap. Being that the distributor just spins the rotor inside the cap, and the engine is missing on only one cyl tells me that one of the terminals on the cap is corroded or bad. I don't care if I gotta do it all over again when the distributor craps out. The engine is gettin pulled during the winter anyway. I just wanna get back down to S. Fla by tomarrow without misfiring all the way home. Please Help

 

I pulled all the wires leading to the opti. Each one was locked in correctly. The terminals looked good. No dust,dirt or anything. I changed the wires about 25,000 miles ago. Next I checked to make sure that the plugs that I just put in were loose at all. nope. I took another GOOD look at the wires and I pulled the plugs and looked at them. Everything seemed to look really good. I figured that the Cap and Rotor is going to need to be changed anyway so I grabed a kit. The Original cap did look a bit nasty also. We shall see.

 

before you tear down ou car i HIGHLY ercommend yu just buy all new plugs and do it that way , its a cheap way to be sure, i thought my opti was bad and i changed it and it ended up bein plugs, thats happened twice now

 

You and me had the same problem huh? oh and I had it twice... once with the old opty and once with the new opty... less than 1k miles I think.

Another potential problem is for those who use the dielectric then sell at the auto parts store... Whatever you do with it.. do not coat the inside of the spark plug wire boot with it... It conducts high voltage electricity... How do I know? well grin you can figure it out... and its so friggin hard to remove from the boot once its in there.

It too will misfire like the opty took a dump when your use that stuff on the boots... once cleaned it goes back to normal.


I hope your find your problem... now that you bought the cap and rotor kit... go for it man... Hopefully you fix your problem.

Marvin

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Dont forget to lay a very long screw driver on top of the injector of that cylinder and put your ear up to the screw drivers handle and listen for the Injector clicking..... just in case....

 

i feel for anyone thats been in our case, thats why if i have a miss, i head straight for a parts store for plugs, its just first thing on my list

 

that and i pull every wire and check it, my buddy chevytuffda had a miss and i said u just put headers in checkem, he didnt want to he said they were fine, 3 weeks later he finally listened and found a burnt wire in half go figure lol

 

Well, I just got the opti back on after installing the new cap and rotor. The old cap looked pretty bad. The terminals on the insaide were all burnt. The rotor looked like it had about 100,000 miles on it too. I installed the semi new opti back on to the engine and reconnected all the wires. I started it and it felt like it was still misfiring. Right before ripping my last bit of hair out I thought that mabey I should reset the computer and see if the ECM resets as Well, I'm not puttin alot of faith in the "reseting the computer idea" I have. What should be my next step. At this point I have replaced the Coil, Cap, Rotor, Plugs, and the Wires are fairly new and look pretty good. However I did see some dielectric greese on the inside of the boot now that ya mention it. I didn't think about that. Ohh and I still have the MSD hooked up. I'm gonna disconnect it and see if it makes a difference. Thanks for the help ya'll, Boy do I need it.

 

Well, Resetting the comp did seem to help the car run better , but still had a misfire. So I then disconnected the MSD Box and pluged the coil in normally. Started up, ran Good, but still a misfire. The engine acually felt STRONG and more responsive. It needed the new cap and rotor, but didn't fix the problem at hand. How would I know if I need an ECM? I was told that the ECM can make a steady misfire. Does the ECM control the timming at all? What exactly does it control on the engine? Thanks Ya'll

 

I am at a loss so I am just going to guess here.... have someone check the engine temp right at the water pump... and compare that reading to the one reported by a scanner.... I am trying to see if the Engine Coolant Temp sensor is reporting the right temp... cause if not then the puter will mess up with the fuel mixture and you will get all kinds of trouble there.

Marvin