ive seen this link atleast 1000 times, but today i can not find it. i believe shoebox had it. it was a break down of the optispark. it was a step by step process. there were around 6 pictures, some one please help me find it. ive searched for over an hour.

 

Not shoebox but you might have seen it here?
http://www.bfranker.badz28.com/fbody/guides.htm

More precisely...
http://www.charm.net/~mchaney/optisprk/optisprk.htm

 

How effective is cleaning the opti? I wouldnt mind trying it, because I'm good with stuff like that. I can put a new system board in a laptop computer....

Has anyone ever brought a bad opti back to life by cleaning it and installing a new cap/rotor? Is it really that simple? Will it live a long life after being rebuilt like this? What is the history?

 

thanks a million!!!!!!!!!!

i dont know how effective it is? im trying to make one good opti out of two old ones.

 

I'm actually interested to know that as well. Anyone done this before?

 

If it is the cap and rotor that is worn out (no other problems), then a new cap and rotor should be of help.

 

What if the optical sensor has failed? Can the sensor be cleaned and brought back from the dead? Can the sensor be purchased seperately?

It cant be that expensive if it is purchased alone??

 

The optical section can be bought by itself. It cost about half as much as the cap and rotor. I would not suggest trying to patch up an opti, the parts are to expense IMO to just try to guess if it'll work or not.


I learned the hard way......I did replace the cap and rotor on mine. It worked fine for three months then it went out again. I bought it from autozone so when I tried to take it back they told me it had no warranty. All in all, some have had LUCK replacing one part of the opti and others such as myself have not. Instead of paying $200 the first time and doing it right, I ended up paying $350.

 

I haven't heard of anyone being able to find just the sensor and replacing it. It seems that most optical issues are not a problem with the sensor itself. Some are attributed to corrosion on the harness plug terminals. Others are caused by the sensor being blinded by rust dust or debris inside the case. If there is a rust problem, it usually comes from the bearings and in that case, it is time to replace the whole thing. There was a time when a vendor for opti bearings was found, but as I recall they are now no longer available from that source.

 

what size of torx bit does it take to pull the rotor off?

 

T4, you really need a deepwell but you don't HAVE to have one.

 

See:
http://web.camaross.com/forums/showt...highlight=torx
My post next to last post..
E4 for cap, 4 screws..
T9 for rotor 2 screws..The cap can be removed with TB cover plate screws..[use the head, double nut the threads and then you can use a small socket for it..

 

OOOOOPS he is correct, I had a little typo, I meant E4

 

The ROTOR is a T-8, trust me, I just had mine apart and bought the bit from Matco.

 

There still seems to be a lot of confusion about the optispark. People seem to regard it as one unit, while in reality it's actually a cam position sensor and a cap & rotor, stuck together because the way the engine bay is set up a traditional gear driven cap & rotor wouldn't be optimal either.

The optical section is simply just a phototransistor setup, the slots in the wheel turn into a digital signal the pcm can read as rpm and which cylinder is where.

The cap & rotor are different from a traditional design because the terminals are not in order of firing, so a conductive material is molded inside the cap, so it is actually kind of like a circuit board, allowing easier wire placement.

Other vehicles use setups similar to this as well, some have an HEI design with an optical sensor and of course the computer controls the timing, I have also seen a cap & rotor design the same as the optispark's off of a nissan v6. In otherwords, design is good, placement is poor- actually pathetic would be a better word. Only GM could put solid state optical sensors and secondary ignition components right next to a hot engine full of oil & coolant...

It's too bad GM doesn't sell the parts piece by piece, there's not really that many parts inside, and there's no way they'd be able to sell rebuild kits for 100+ bucks. I suppose it's the same thing with alternators and starters as well though, usually it's some cheap part like the brushes that go bad.

My opti hasn't let me down, the cap & rotor may have been replaced but the optical section has outlived my transmission by 5k miles now... I'd say GM has other design flaws in this car that may be a little more drastic than a 100 dollar sensor, eh?