Hello,

Just for my future reference: My 93' Z has about 105k miles on it and is running great....but im wanting to know about possible signs that an opti may be going bad or something. Are there any signs that one is going bad? How do you know?

thanks

Cory

 

Usually the car will start to mis or stumble. On my M6 Z, it was more pronounced at 5th and 6th gears. From there it gradually gets worse until total failure. The early non-veneted opti's were prone to bearing failure as well. In this case its instant failure.

 

Failure of the optical section - cam and (pseudo) crank position measurements - will set DTC codes.....

DTC 16 for loss of the low resolution pulse (engine will not run when this is an "active" code, but it often shows up as a "stored" code when the optical sensor in the Opti is starting to crud up).

DTC 36 for loss of the high resolution pulse (engine will continue to run, but uses calculated crank position for spark timing, rather than the actual postion measured by the high res pulse.).

When you start seeing these codes pop up in a scan, start saving your pennies in a jar.

Unfortunately there are no "codes" for the high voltage section (cap/rotor) of the Opti.

 

thanks for the detailed info guys...this is good stuff....I appreciate your knowledge!

Cory

 

If its the original opti with 105k miles, it's getting ripe for replacement.

The cap and rotor do wear out, just like a typical distributor. The better quality materials make them last long, but not forever.

The bearings dry up and fail. With over 100k miles, it therefor makes sense to replace the whole assy, rather than just the cap & rotor.

You'll probably want to replace the plugs and wires at the same time, as they have about the same usefull lifespan as an opti. Since you need to remove the waterpump to do the opti, it's your call to replace that also. If you reuse the old waterpump, you risk it failing and dousing your new opti. I did all the above, plus O2 sensors and EGR at 160k, now I can forget about them for another 100k+ miles.

BTW, even though the car ran ok, the opti was totally worn out. Carbon button in cap was GONE! Rotor was worn OFF. Bearing was rusty and difficult to turn. No signs of moisture, though.

 

I was just about to post these exact same questions. I do believe my Opti is gone, it took my car a little longer to start and gradually got worse, now when I went to start it today nothing is happening. How much is an Opti going to cost me? And how can i be sure it is the opti?

On top of those is it easy to put in myself?

Thanks

 

I did the plugs and wires as well as the waterpump very recently.....within the past 6 months id say....so i wont re-do those....but the opti may need replaced soon.....if its how you guys say it is.....thanks guys...

Cory