I have been fighting my car for a week now not wanting to pull the opti since its a messy pain to get off and it was a new AC Delco unit that I put on the engine when I put it together and now has just over 1000 miles on it. Well after eliminating everything else, I pulled the opti and sure enough it rattled when I shook it so I know that was bad. Where can I get the tool to remove these blasted reverse torx looking bolts. The 2 outside edge ones were easy but I can get the recessed ones out. I loosened them up some by turning the back side of the bolt which allowed me to peak in the opti and spot the problem when several pieces of plastic fell out as well as the 2 screws that holds the rotor button on and they had no signs of any locktite on those 2 bolts either (thanks GM) the sourse of the plastic pieces appear to be off the rotor button which looks like it has been through a war.

What I need to know is what are my options for the opti without giving GM insane money for another POS. If I can find the tool to disassemble mine. I thought about just putting this cap and rotor setup on my rather new opti

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...=STRK:MEWAX:IT

and put it back on the car. Cheap fix and be done with it but is there another option that I should be considering?

Thanks,
Brian

 

Your local auto supply or Sears should have what you need. Most people recommend adding some thread locker to the rotors screws when installing a new unit.

 

Autoparts store didn't have that reverse torx looking tool and I have never seen one of those bolts before. I would be shocked if sears would have it. They aren't the same since K-mart bought them.

 

The E4 (external) used on the Opti cap is the "reverse" of a T15. Take one of the T15 screws out of the top cover of the throttle body, wrap tape around the threads to protect them, grab the threads with a vise-grip and use the head of the screw as a socket.

 

Yeah, Sears didn't have a E4 either. The smallest they had was E6. I never thought of using a torx head bolt to get them out. That should work. THANKS!

Brian

 

Radio Shack should have the #4. Snap on Tool is another source. Also look at the Allen wrench style drivers. I took a 1/4 " drive socket (#4) and ground down the outside size on a bench grinder to fit the hole.

 

Lots of people have reported getting them at both places (that's why I posted the suggestion). I guess it depends on where you are.

 

I saw a e4 yesterday at autozone. You had to buy it as part of a 19 buck kit.

 

Okay, but if you're going to remove and Loctite the rotor screws on a new Opti before installing it ..... what size of a regular Torx bit do you use on those insanely small rotor Torx screws???

 

I got mine from snap on! the set!

 

I have one of those tiny small torx sets that I bought from radio shack a while back to work on my cell phone which goes down to a T6.

 

Do people sugguest putting Loctite on a gm ac delco opti? Or is that one of the other brands?

 

Yes, Loctite the screws on the rotor on the GM.

 

My GMPP opti (ac delco) came with blue loctite.

 

I had a similar problem with my brothers 96 Vortec 350 truck with the rotor button coming loose but they aren't near the PITA to work on as these LT1's. Apparently when they were assembling this stuff they ran out of loctite and just assembled them anyway. Nice quality work. All the good ones I have seen had blue loctite on them. These didn't have a drop of coloring on them.