For some reason I was thinking the car was a '96, but it's a '94. Autozone couldn't pull the code anyway, seeing as it's OBDI.

 

looks like i am going to put in an opti soon, the dealer said the intake was leaking so i think i will do it all at once, crap ! i just dont have time to work on my own stuff ,i have to much going on in the shop right now and no room ! it threw the codes for mass air flow, said it was failing, and it was running fine till it started missing then the a/c shut the compressor off, got back to the driveway, let it sit for about a minute and started it back up, ran very very bad blowing black smoke from the rear, but a/c kicked back on, then the motor cleaned out ran a little better , engine light came on and a/c went back off, maybe i should put this one in my junkyard with the rest of the camaro's !!!

 

That doesn't sound like an optispark problem.

 

then what do you think it may be, the computer my bud had said ''failure " for the mass air flow, but the gm dealer said it was the opti, i dont want to keep spending $$$$$ and time working on this car when i dont have the time to do it

 

I think I'd take care of the MAF and see if that clears the problem. Anyone you know have a car that you could swap with and see what happens?

The opti has it's own codes that it throws when bad.

 

autozone can't pull OBD1

 

true, but you can if you have a paper clip or a gm code key. you just insert it into the test port and count blinks. the first number will flash one speed, then a brief pause, then faster blinks. the first is the first digit of the code, the second is the second digit of the code.

 

Flashing the codes with a paper clip or key doesn't work after '93. You need a code reader or scan tool on '94 and up.

 

my bad. thought it was any obd1. that sucks

 

I agree with whoever said replace the MAF and see what happens.

The O2 sensors could also be bad if it runs great for a few minutes, but I don't know if they throw a code when they go bad or just screw up the A/F mixture. Someone here will know.

My car sat for several years, and one of the first things I replaced after I actually got it running was the MAF as it was throwing a code. My opti ultimately had to be replaced, but the car never ran good prior to it being replaced. It would idle fine, and rev with only a slight miss, but whenever I would put the car under load it felt, and sounded, like it was going to explode.

 

I quick way to check the MAF is to unplug it and take it for a spin. It will force the computer into limp mode, but should show if your issues are MAF related or opti. If its opti, you should have the same symptoms with the MAF connected or disconnected.

 

Does not force it into "limp" mode... it simply cause it to default to speed-density and continues to operate normally in all other respects. Few people ever experience limp mode - its intended to keep the engine running with virtually no external input.