I've been away for a while, the car has been stored in a no start condition. I suspect the opti is bad. While researching opti prices, I discovered folks selling just the distributor cap and rotor. Is this feasible? Or, is it more likely its deeper in the opti? There isn't much to them. How hard is it to just change the cap?

 

Anyone bought ADP opti from Amazon? Quality?

 

I bought the cheap ($114) one at Autozone in '02. Still kicking in '11 70k later.

 

You'll have to diagnose the no start condition before you can decide if a cap and rotor will solve your problems. Chances are not good as to the cap/rotor being the issue.

Go to the sticky at the tpo of this forum and diagnose the opti. Use Rob's page (www.shbox.com) for even more detail and information.

I'd hate to see you spend the time, money, and effort (it takes as long to change the cap and rotor as it does to change the whole opti) to do something that won't help.

If you don't want to start with the diagnoses, check the wire to the opti, the short harness that starts mid manifold on the PS and runs to the opti. Those pins seem to get corroded pretty easily

 

Pull the codes. If you have DTC 16 and/or DTC 36 you have a problem with the optical cam position sensor in the back 1/2 of the Opti (or with the electrical harness). Replacement requires a complete new Opti. The bearing is also notoriously weak. That is in the back 1/2 of the Opti as well. If you have a cracked cap, burned contacts, damaged rotor, etc. the cap/rotor may make sense. But there are a least the two critical parts in the back 1/2 that can go bad as well.

Whether a particular brand of Opti is "quality" pretty much boils down to the statistical failure rate. I'd guess that the off-brand, auto parts store brands, ebay cheapies, etc fail about 3 or 4 times as often as the OEM AC Delco/Delphi units. Some people pay $100 and get lucky. Many others pay $100 and see the unit fail in a matter of days or weeks.

Depends on how much you like to gamble.

 

The only code I've thrown during the whole no start is for the opti not having output. I ordered a really nicely priced rebuilt opti from Amazon. It looks brand new. Just waiting on bum leg to feel a little better before I tackle it. I know, I did it once before and it took about 16 hours.