I was driving all fine, had new plugs leads a while back, car just died, no spark so checked everything, mechanic said it was the coil , changed that, nothing, then he said it was the iginition module , got new one, fitted not that? every thing seems to lead back to dreaded optispark but all this testing for voltage, no one seems to be sure & dont want to change that as well for nothing? does opti jsut die? If car has opti (its 93 Z28) do the have crankcase sensor or is it built in ? as this is the only other thing it could be?
any ideas as opti costs about £1000 supply & fit at my garage?
cheers guys

 

sorry forgot to add, there is someone on e bay selling an optispark , but says not sure what year/ is there a lot of diffrence? how would i be able to tell if it is okay for my car? cheers

 

http://shbox.com/1/4th_gen_tech2.html#opti_testTry this link its from shoebox's website

If you test and find that you need a new opti, you will need an early LT1 93-94 opti. The later 1995-1997 use a different drive and wont fit up to your car. It's recommended to use an AC Delco or Delphi opti. thepartsladi on ebay may have the Delphi.

I would also check all fuses, under the hood and at the side of the dash. Make sure they are good.

 

Thanks, i did not know there were more fuses inside car??? i checked engine bay fuses? the bloke selling on e bay says there are no part no on it? he got it for his 94 vette & did not fit? thanks again

 

Your answer is the simple fact that the opti's do just go out most of the time in my case when mine went out i could drive it around for about ten minutes until it would warm up and then it would die and i could not start it back up until i waited about an hour to let it cool. Also it would die at stop lights unless i had my foot on the pedal to bump up the idle a little. Its a crazy thing and usually the rpms would jump around crazily until it died. Id make sure the opti is even receiving spark first i was wondering does the car even attempt to start or turn over. thats the first thing you need to know could be alot of things like dead cell in a battery or the starter one time i had a battery tested at auto zone because my car died at a grocery store and they said the battery was fine but when i put it back in everything else was trying to work but i could tell when the starter attempted to turn the engine over it felt weak and thats when i new it was the batter in that case due to a dead cell so just do a little trouble shooting to make sure before you dive in to deep water. good luck

 

Have you checked it for codes? The Opti includes the optical cam (not "crankcase") position sensor. When it fails, engine mahy not run (depending whether you lose the high or low resolution signal). In that case the ECM will set codes to tell you there is a problem with the optical sensor.

Since you have a 93, you don't even need a scanner to pull the codes. Shoebox has info:

http://shbox.com/1/dlc2.jpg

There is a fuse panel on the driver's end of the dash, covered by the door when it is closed.

 

Yes car turns over fine its def no spark!

 

Cheers for reply, my car has had some mods done ie. cams ecu , injectors etc They say that some of the wiring has been messed so the obd reader will not get fault codes! Is there a crankcase sensor or is it in optispark? some peoplesay there is not one

 

You don't use an "obd reader" to get the codes on a 93. You use a paper clip.

There is no "crankcase sensor" on an LT1. In fact, there is no crankcase sensor on any engine that I am aware of. There is a crankshaft position sensor that some engines use to tell the ECU when to fire the plugs. But the 93-95 LT1 does NOT have a crankshaft position (CKP) sensor. What is has - and I thought this was pretty clear in my first post - is an optical camshaft position sensor, located in the back 1/2 of the Optispark distributor.

The 96/97 LT1 had a CKP sensor added, but that is only used to detect misfires, not to time the ignition.

 

Thanks, i have it now, sorry i am a builder & this optispark is a bit confusing for me? So if it is the sensor , it is basicaly the optispark out anyway? I have been told that it is a horrendus job to change, but the thing is i have a good mechanic the only lives down my road (so handy as car wont start!) but the american car speclist is 50 miles away , so i have to get car trailerd there & his hourly rate is very expensive, should i get optispark & let him fit it, or is it a speclist job ? I have read the shoebox manual on it & there is a bit about putting it in the wrong way round? Nobody has been able to get fault codes of car? surley they most now about how do to it? paperclip ? whats that about? I will check as a bout 3 people (1 being the specilst american) have tried to get codes? thanks for all the help as the car has been of the road a month now!

 

Are you even reading what I post? I don't think so.

My first post explained that you don't need a code scanner to pull the codes on your 93, and gave you a link to Shoebox's page that shows "Flashing DTC's (pre 94)". Apparently you totally ignored that.

Appears you would rather just dump your money into a new distributor, than think/test your way through a logical analysis of the problen. Since that's your preference, stop wasting people's time by asking questions, then totally ignoring their help.

Hopefully, someone else will jump in here, because its obvious I"m wasting my time trying to help you.

Good luck "bloke".... you're going to need it.

 

How can you say that, i looked through your shoebox link at the codes but i have had mechanics saying one thing which they all say "they cant get fault codes of this car" I dont know how they cant but they cant! I have read through haines manual 3 times & it says you need an obd 1 reader with an obd11 connector (or something like that) so i presummed that that is how it is done! If you read my post you would have read "I am a builder" & i would be first to admit not very good with cars even though i love them! hence having a camaro to a mini!!! I have other specilst performance cars & never a problem with geting them fixed by mechanics! But this car stopping as it did & i have changed just about everything from plugs down, i have been a month now, endless hours & money & parts & still nothing! It seems well known that the opti is a problem, cant get fault codes ? what would you do? I am not ignoring any imformation but i am not as up on mechanical sides , i have to then tell the mechanic all the stuff which i have read (& dont understand sometimes) I appreciate all help & am trying very hard , so whatever you think thanks for help . I am trying to get my car going, & thats all. cheers

 

I am going out to try this myself, as per shoebox instructions just to see.

 

No does not work, the service light stays on, fans go on but no dtc flashing, so thats that, they did say that it did not work on my car , perhaps to do with the performance ecu that has been fitted by previous owner.