The PCM could be a culprit, but I don't know anyone whom which I could borrow theirs to hook up quickly. I have a theory though, and it may sound weird. I definetly need feed back on this before I order anymore parts. I bought a plug wire set, changed the coil wire and a couple of the spark plug wires.
I posted when the problem started before in another post, so I'll tell it again:
I accelerated full throttle from a red light. The tires didn't hook like they always do in dry conditions. I have an auto, and the trans shifted into second. The tires then hooked, and the trans immediately shifted down into first. It was right after the that the started loosing power and then died about 15 seconds later.
I changed and tested everything I could, including hooking a wire directly from the battery to the starter to make sure a safety switch hadn't gone bad. I think the spark is be put out by the Opti, but the Opti isn't spinning. What turns the Opti? The cam, and what turns the cam? The TIMING CHAIN! I think when My car down shifted, the timing chain broke. I tried pulling a third spark plug, and cranking the motor, and spark cam out for a little bit. So, I believe the Opti just isn't spinning to send spark to the plug wires. Does this make sense? How do I check to see if my timing chain is broken without tearing everything apart?

 

What are your mods?
If you have headers, and if you can run the car for at least a minute, you can figure out exactly what cylinders are firing, and which ones aren't. Just get a spray bottle and spray a little water on the exhaust primiries, one at a time. The water should at this point evaporate upon contact on the cylinders that are firing normally, and slowly evaporates on the ones misfiring.
I wouldn't discount your wires, though. I have plug wires playing tricks on me, when I swore they looked ok.

 

The car will not fire up at all, it just cranks. I replaced the #1, and #3 spark plug wires so far, and no current is still going through them. Yeah, I have headers, but they're sitting on the garage floor.

 

Assuming you still have the water pump off and most of the front end apart, pop the opti off and the timing chain cover off and check the chain. If it seems ok ( dots line up and not too much slack) then pop the opti apart and put the base on only and verify that the opti is spinning.

BUT, before you do that, make triple sure that the plug that goes into the opti isnt broken. Ring out the wires pin by pin with the ohm meter. I had a bad plug before that I would have swore was ok until I checked it thoroughly, and it did the same thing youre describing.

 

Unfortunately, the car is completely back together, since we thought the Opti was the problem. Are you talking about the white connector on the top pass side of the Opti? I tried to get to that, but it appears as though the just isn't enough room to get out that plug without pulling the water pump again. If I can get to it, how would I check the plug with an Ohm meter?

 

Using an ohm meter on spark plug wires or any other wires is done by simply setting to ohms and putting one of the leads in the socket and the other leader at the other end of line.. just to see if the wire is grounded/cracked or has too much resistance for signal to get through.. Low resistance is okay (cant recall the exact numbers) but high resistance is bad.. It does sound like a chain problem except I would expect it to run at all with a busted chain, skipped tooth maybe as it would run like crap.. but for what its worth I would take the time to check all the grounds and possible shorts, especially the PCM ones.. we had a similiar problem on a 93, it would crank, run like butt for a few seconds then die.. went round and round replacing all of the dang sensors just to find that the PCM had an intermittent ground problem due to a chaffed wire from removal/install.. you can visually inspect your wires (sometimes you get lucky) or you will have to ohm them out.. as a result of the signal wires grounding out intermittently, everything worked except the ignition system.. I dont recall exactly which wire it was but I think youd be on the right path to start checking from the opti all the way back.. take a good look at any part of the harness that was stretch/pinched during the removal/install and the harness on passenger side that usually is really close to the headers..

 

The car doesn't run at all now, it just cranks. I'll see if I can find an Ohm meter that I can use fotr this application. Does anyone know how to test the Opti connetor?
It has been suggested that i do a compression test to see if the timing chain (or, possibly, the cam bolts) broke. Does anyone know how to do a compression check?

 

Looking at that wiring diagram mentioned earlier in the thread, I'd recommend checking at the ignition system test connector that sends a signal from the pcm to the opti. The ICM is only for the coil but since you have power there it wouldn't help going through that.

Could also be something that sends a signal to the pcm... like the crank position sensor (depending on year).

Or, I would also check the Throttle Position Sensor (TPS). It it is stuck wide open or closed, it could send some wild signals to the PCM.

 

Holy f***ing S***....Okay ready for this?
The whole problem for me wasn't related to anything that I would have ever thought of...After I installed a new optispark...It still didn't work...So today I hooked up the laptop to it and found that the computer was indeed throwing a code (MALF 16 - Low Res Failure)...so I traced that wire down (thanks to help of a wiring diagram that I got from http://csce.uark.edu/~jgbertr/rb/4th_gen_tech1.html) to a wire that I had tapped into for my remote start alarm. That wire ran from the opti connector on the top of the intake to inside the car through the firewall. It seems that the wire had been rubbing against a piece of metal under the hood and was getting shorted out. So $220 and 5 hours later I find out that the damn problem wasn't related to a bad opti (of course found that out when it still didn't work once replaced) but a stupid wire to my alarm.

So with that in mind I have an opti that is less than a year old and has only been used for like 4 months because after I installed the last opti I got about 4 months out of the car before the transmission needed rebuild. Finally got that rebuilt after about 8 months and then got to drive the car for 3 days (yep 3 days) before this problem started happening. It has sat for another month till now. So anyone wanna buy a used opti with 4 months of use on it? I would like to get atleast $100 out of it.

Thaks for all those who gave advise and for those who actually took the time to read this...

Jason

 

Congrats Jason! No use for an opti here... hope Snorkleface has good luck with his issue too.

 

Yeah, I wish I had access to a scan tool, that would really help. I'm actually thinking that my timimg chain jumped, or is broken.

 

One way to tell if your timing chain is broken is to take off a valve cover and crank your engine. If the rocker arms move, the timing chain isn't broken. Also, try a small burst of starting fluid and see if the engine cranks... this will help isolate the concern as an ignition issue.

 

That, and running a compression check are what I'm planning on doing next. If the timing chain didn't break, but it just jumped some cogs, how could I tell that (without actually taking the chain cover off)?
I tried stating fluid already. Everyone invest in AutoZone!

 

Well, you can pull off the valve cover and watch the number one cylinder... look for both rocker arms to align at the same time while setting the crank to zero degrees. If one is down/up more than the other, it is possible that it slipped. Timing chains don't do that very often...

 

Sorry, but you're going to have to beat this into my head. How would I be able to set the crank at zero without pulling everything apart (i.e. water pump, Opti, etc.)? Also, is there anything I should know regarding pulling the valve cover off? When I do get them opff, should I give the drivetrain an oil bath?