Hey guys,

Just last night I finished replacing my Opti and my Water Pump and now it won't start. It turns over and tries to start bu then doesn't like the first two times and then it will start and stay on for about a second and a half and then die. I only have two ideas for this one...

1.) Coil Wire: When I took this wire off of the Opti the plastic on the inside around the metal part broke off and crumbled. Could this be it?

2.) A.I.R. Pump - I don't think this is it but if I switched the connections between the "In" an the "Out" could that cause this?

Thats all I can think of right now...if I think of anything else i'll let you guys know.

Thanks in advance,

~Kevin

 

is it even trying to start? did u make sure u plugged the pcm plug back up to it? did u make sure u lined up the camshaft pin correctly? i went thru this and i ended up putting the pin back in wrong. it would try to start but since the timing was off cuz of the pin it wouldnt. make sure everything is plugged up correctly, and then if thats not it, take it back apart and make sure the pin is aligned correctly.

 

oops, didnt read the part about it almost starting. definetly sounds like you put the camshaft pin in wrong.

 

werd... happened to me a couple of times. my car would crank and start for about one second then it would backfire through the intake and die. sometimes that opti can be a pain in the *** to line up.

 

damnit, I was hoping I wouldn't have to do that...i'm going to try replacing this coil wire first (a little bit easier) and then if not i'll check the opti...thanks guys.

~Kevin

 

Ok, I have the opti off again and now i'm pretty sure the camshaft pin is lined up and into the right notch but i'm not sure if it is all the way on there. I remember tons of threads that said that the bolt holes on the opti have to be flush with the engine but mine right now only sit with the bottom two flush and the top most one by the electrical connector is maybe about 2 or 3 centimeters away if that...should I just tighten it down or is it not aligned or what should I do?

Thanks in advance,
~Kevin

 

Anyone? I'm all out of ideas and I need to get this back on the road, it's my daily driver.

~Kevin

 

Ok, I'm confused. I admit the spline drive can be a pain sometimes but after that I never found it difficult to line up the opti?

 

Sorry guys, I meant like millimeters...i've come to the conclusion that the opti is lined up but it still isn't doing it...I think it might be the coil wire...the only other thing I can think of is that maybe the timing is off because I had to move the crankshaft when removing the harmonic balancer...either that or the harmonic balancer isn't on correctly.

Any ideas help.

Thanks,
~Kevin

 

Well, that could definately be your problem. Unless you're really off you probably won't be able to tell without pulling off the timing chain. Don't go off of the balancer. once it's off, get it back on perfect is very difficult.

 

Our harmonic balances aren't keyed, you realyl can't put them on wrong. The balancer has nothing to do with timing. You wouldn't have moved the camshaft and screwed up the timing there unless you completely removed the timing cover and took off the timing chain - which you don't need to do on an opti swap so i will assume you never did that. I've never installed the newer opti (i have the old non-vented on both of the LT-1s i've had) so i'm not sure about your issues lining it up. It's doubtful that coil wire went bad on you out of the blue - based on your symptons it sounds like your timing is out there which would be due to improper opti installation - however i can't give you much guidance on the non-vented opti since i've never phsyically done an install of one i've only seen pictures.

EDIT: When you say the plastic broke around the metal part on the opti coil wire connection i assume you mean the plastic housing...the plastic breaking shouldn't affect anything. If you broke metal then that would be an issues, yes.

 

I'm sure that the opti is installed correctly...now when I go to start the car the starter is going but the engine isn't doing anything....i'm going to autozone right now so I can just get a replacement coil wire and then i'm going to see if that works...i'm also going to test to see if my coil is still good.

When I moved the crankshaft could that have thrown the timing off? I only moved it a small amount so that I could get the opti on and off easier. I never took off the timing cover or anything...

~Kevin

 

Hey guys, just wanted to let everyone who is interested know that my car is back running again...the opti was installed correctly the second time but my car was lacking the power to start(battery had just about drained) along with the fact that I was attempting to start it without hooking up some sensors first. Thanks for everyone's help.

~Kevin