Just happened today, was accelerating to get on the freeway, and the car sputtered when I gave it a lot of gas, the radio shut off then came back on, my guage needles dropped down as if I shut off the car. It just did it that once and I didn't really think anything of it.

Now though it's doing it non-stop, if I give it ANY gas other then barely tapping on the pedal it sputters and the car shakes like crazy, electrical stuff shuts off for a sec, needles fall down, etc.

So I figure it's either not getting spark, or not getting fuel. The car kinda sounds like it's sputtering a tiny bit too just when I'm cruising.

How can I determine if it's my opti or my fuel pump? I hope it's not the fuel pump, because the guy that owned the car before me claims that it's an aftermarket pump, and is fairly new.

EDIT
Ok, is it possible that a short in my wiring somewhere coulda caused this? Because just now I went to give it another drive, put the key in and the car was dead. Went and jiggled the battery cable a bit and it came on. I started her up and went for a drive, floored it through the gears a few times and it drove perfectly. Is it possible that there was a short in my wiring that caused this?

 

Easiest thing to do is to run a fuel pressure test to make sure you're getting enough fuel to the rails. With the key on and the vacuum line disconnected from the fuel pressure regulator, you should have about 43psi, and it should not taper. Pressure should drop anywhere from 3 to 10psi while idling, and slowly increase with throttle position (vac. connected).

 

it is the opti my done the same thing and it is a 93 z28 it was 6 months old it was under warrenty when it done this.

 

Ok, is it possible that a short in my wiring somewhere coulda caused this? Because just now I went to give it another drive, put the key in and the car was dead. Went and jiggled the battery cable a bit and it came on. I started her up and went for a drive, floored it through the gears a few times and it drove perfectly. Is it possible that there was a short in my wiring that caused this?

 

Remove the battery cables and clean the connections. Mine works loose sometimes from the vibration. With a nice clean connection, you should be fine Optis won't cause the car to die out like that

-Shannon

 

Sounds like you need to check all your connections, your battery, and possibly your alternator. To me it sounds electical. My guess is a loose connection or dieing alternator.

 

tighten the battery cable.

 

well, nice to know i don't hafta go buy a new opti, borrow tools from someone, and find an empty parking lot that I can take the car to work on it so I don't get in trouble w/ my apartments