Check out the report. You will see pictures of what I was referring to. I may not have been clear. The inner black plate that shields the optical section was bowed according to MSD (and the pictures). Since the cap only contacts the outer aluminum back plate (or housing), I am questioning how unevenly seating the cap (and O-ring) could cause enough flex in the aluminum housing to cause the inner black plastic cover to bow.

I think this is just a recommendation to be extra sure the rotor points to the same position after putting the MSD in so you know everything lines up. It also easier to spin the rotor instead of the whole Opti until everything lines up and the Opti drops into place.

I received the MSD Opti back on Saturday and reinstalled. I will update this thread shortly with the details.

 

Cool, I"m going on holiday today, will be back monday, hopefully I can re-install it then before I have to go away for work!

And hope it works.

 

Here are the results after reinstalling the rebuilt MSD unit:

The entire unit was rebuilt including a new rotor, cap, backing plate, and wire harness. These are the only parts I could verify by inspection without disassembling the unit.

I removed the cover of the rebuilt unit prior to installation and verified that the new O-ring showed no signs of pinching. I tried to misalign the cap intentionally and to verify if the cap could be misaligned. I found that it could. To ensure that everything was aligned properly, I installed the cap on the Opti before installing the Opti on the car.

I don't believe that the O-ring issue could cause the distortion of the inner black cover I saw so I am skeptical of the explanation provided by MSD.

The rebuilt unit is working as expected for 2 days now. One interesting note, the timing adjust screw was set to 1.5 turns from the full bottom position. This is where I left it and the car is running very well.

I should also note that on my test drive after reinstalling the rebuilt Opti, I got a DTC code 44 (Lean Left O2 Sensor) after the car went into closed loop mode. The car was chugging and running poorly. After a brief moment of panic, I replace the left O2 sensor and the car has been running great since (2 days). While waiting for the MSD unit, I replaced the timing chain and gears, the oil pan gasket and the intake manifold gasket. It is idling smoothly and running the best it has in years although I would not credit all of this to the new Opti.

I have updated the original report with all of this information:
http://home.comcast.net/~markpoulton/dist.pdf

Here is my recommendation to make sure this does not happen to you:

Recommendations – I strongly recommend installing the cap on the ProBillet distributor before installing the distributor in the car. This is the only reliable way to ensure that the cap is seated properly and the O-ring is not pinched in any way. Assuming MSD's analysis is correct, this should prevent the issue described above.

If I experience any more problems, I will update accordingy.

Thanks,

Jeff

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mtrhds94Z
Hard to believe that it wouldn't be noticeable tho, at least upon your inspection after removal? Did you take the rotor and plastic black plate off before sending it back to MSD?



Check out the report. You will see pictures of what I was referring to. I may not have been clear. The inner black plate that shields the optical section was bowed according to MSD (and the pictures). Since the cap only contacts the outer aluminum back plate (or housing), I am questioning how unevenly seating the cap (and O-ring) could cause enough flex in the aluminum housing to cause the inner black plastic cover to bow.
**************************************************

OK My thought was that the 'inner black shield' has an Oring or seal[ behind it, like a factory opti does] that was buckled, and not readily seen..
That is the only way I can see that the shield would 'rise' .030" or be out of line.. I highly doubt that the billet plate flexed at all.... not sure I buy into that either..
I haven't seen an MSD opti up close, or apart, to verify that there is in fact a 2nd Oring or gasket.. the pics [and the MSD literature cutaway pics] don't really show that clearly..
Thanks for the effort, and report on this, tho.. I really hope these MSD units pan out.. there is a real need for an opti that is reliable.. these are great motors otherwise...

 

I see your point. I didn't remove the black cover to see what was under it because I didn't want any chance that I would be blamed for the issue and void the warranty. The O-ring that I saw pinched was the one between the cap and billet housing.

My intent is to open the MSD unit up just before the warranty expires and verify eveything is still looking good. I will update this post then (I think in a year) so people will have an idea of how the unit held up.

Jeff

 

Really a great job on this. Well documented facts, balanced reporting of MSD's action. No hysterics, unsupported accusations, etc..

Thanks for posting, and good luck!

 

Thanks Fred.

I wanted this thread to be as factual as I could make it. I have read several posts about people's concerns over this unit. I think the appeal of the MSD is stronger to those of us with unvented Optisparks because it provides a lower cost alternative than converting the OEM Opti to the vented version.

For those with vented OEM Optis, the advantages may not be as strong. In the end, the MSD is working really good and based on my experience with 3 failed OEM units, almost anything is better.

While there may be some improvements that could be made to ensure the O-ring does not pinch, following my recommendation of installing the cap before mounting the Opti should prevent the problem so this unit should be a good option.

I know about the burned rotor one guy experienced and I am hoping that was a quality control problem that has been addressed. In the end, I would recommend this unit. Let's see if I still feel this way in 12 months

Jeff

 

Thx for the write up. My msd opti just arrived several days ago and I'm eager to install it. I'll make sure to stay updated on this post so I can make any needed adjustments during the installation of my msd opti.

 

Mine has been doing ok now, about 2k miles.

I think the MSD instructions, especially with the install of that o-ring, are junk. If you try to follow them and the picture 100%, you install the o ring wrong. If you look at the opti and see where the o-ring should in fact go, you do it right.

Hopefully it does last a long time. I'm gonna put my car into storage soon for the winter, hope it works good in the spring.

Igor.

 

It's sorta unfortunate that msd only puts a warrenty of 1 year on the product. My car's been sitting for 2 years so I may not even have it running within a year.

 

Just a quick update. I have 4K miles on my MSD and not so much as a hiccup. It is running perfectly.

Jeff

 

I have sold about 25 of the MSD Optisparks with no problems. I ordered one for a customers car (95+) and installed it. Within 5 minutes of run time, the car was firing out the exhaust and running like ***. (opti was being used with delteq) Delteq was bypassed to eliminate that, and same problem. I removed the optispark, and the reluctor wheel was contacting the pickup. You can hear it when you spin the shaft by hand. I received an RMA number to sent the unit back to MSD, and the very next day, a customer brought his MSD opti to me with the SAME issue. I now have 2 optis to send back with the wheel contacting the pickup and causing firing problems. Anyone else having these issues??

 

Has msd made any sort of statement concerning these issues? Do you predict a recall will be announced in the near future?

 

The engineer wants to look at it. Hopefully I'll get to talk to him to see how many other units have failed in this way. I'll keep everyone updated. I think the optispark is of the devil

 

I have been pondering the idea of just using the "Opti Module" with Delteq. I had been wondering where to pick up an Opti cover. Where and how much did you get pay for the cover?