How many miles is the original cap and rotor on a optispark last. My car has 180,000 kilometers or arround 100,000 miles.

 

it all depends on whether you have a vented or non vented. I think the opti is only guaranteed for 12 months with warranty but they usually last years...just replaced mine a month ago.

 

I have 160+K and had to replace mine at around 90K due to some ignition backfeed problems. You couldn't even buy the seperate units at that time and had to buy the whole unit as one.

 

Ignition backfeed problem? could you please tell me what it was doing when it had that problem?

 

I put about a 100K on my original. I replaced it when the 383 went in just for the heck of it.

 

A buddy of mine that owns a garage said that I could have messed up the opti because my coil was arcing out and I didn't catch it right away. He said something about it working it's way to the opti or something. Don't know if that was what did it but I had to replace the opti and that was one scenerio.

 

The cap and rotor on the optispark is basically the same setup on a regular electronic ignition distributor as far as materials and how it works so its subject to the same wear and tear as any cap and rotor.
Its a good idea to change it on a regular basis, now its not like oil, it does not need to be changed every 3k but if you want to keep it in tip top condition I would change it every 50 to 75k. Having said that I changed mine out at 120k but it was in real bad shape at that point.
The only reason they don,t get changed out more often is because its quite a chore just to replace the cap and rotor.