I was driving around two days ago, coasting to a stop in neutral and the car dies and won't start. Immediately, I think opti. I get towed to my gf's dad's shop and start the tear down the next day. First we replaced the ignition module and coil. Still no start. I hated being right, but I was. We started cutting our way to the opti, bought a new one and plopped it on there. When we took out the old one we found out why it broke... there must have been about 10 loose pieces inside of it. The inside of it just blew up, for what reason, I don't know.

Of course with the new opti it works great (knocks on wood).

Anyone else have an opti that died like that? It looked like the original one too (116k on it if it is)

and since this was my first time changing an opti, i was dreading it from all the horror stories ive heard from everyone else. it really wasnt that bad at all, i honestly dont see what all the fuss is about.

 

How many miles does your car have on it (factory Opti) and how many RPMs are you turning it? In race applications where you're turning around 7K, the life of the GM Opti can be limited.

WD

 

Same story here. I just recently did mine for the first time. I was intimidated to say the least because of everything I've read. In fact, I put it off for well over a month. Anyway, I finallly tore into it and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be.

 

Exactly.

 

My 2 optis did that. They do not like MSD ignition. Had to modify (rivets) opti #3 rotor so the plastic sonic welded buttons did not melt and let the contact go loose. Another failure waiting to happen under high rpm. Opti #3 still going strong today. Also, modified the vent system for more air flow and cooling. I prefer the gm opti. B.

 

I had the same fears when i went to change mine. But it wasn't bad at all. I even did the intake mainfiold leak fix while i was at it.

 

and im only spinning it to 6k

 

Do you have pics?