when an opti goes out does always throw a code? my car has had a burp while driving at constant speed. would shut off randomly but start back and drive fine. would do all this when warm. then started to do it when cold one morning. miss then went away. left work that afternoon and started to surge miss and stumble badly. if I gave it any gas it would violently shake. it made it 15miles and then died. will not start. fuelpump turns on and I swapped in another spare coil/icm I had......nothing. i been thinking opti but then I realized I never had an SES light popup

 

Sounds like an Opti.

I've had 2 go bad, and neither threw codes. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't; mine didn't.

 

My opti has never thrown a code when it's dead, or dieing.

 

Instead of rewriting everything i will just copy what i posted on another forum on what happened today

First post after i went outside to check things out.
Second post after I THOUGHT i fixed it.

 

okay being i cant stand something being broken i went outside to figure this out. I took my spare coil and ICM out with me. I first tried to start it again and got nothing. I dc the old ICM and connected the spare one. Started right up. Put it back on the old one...nothing. So either i had two problems or as a friend of mine said with the coil running badly by not having a good connection i could have hurt the ICM.

So here is a recap.

so on thursday my car acts up badly, and strands me. i get it home swap coils and icm...nothing. today i replace the pigtail and it starts right up, previous to that it wouldnt start at all. then go for a spin. gets warmed up good, go WOT and it sputters and spits..then dies. Swap ICMs and now starts right up. havent taken it for a spin cause i dont feel like pushing anymore tonite.

Im so far convinced my opti is still good.

 

A problem with the optical module will set codes. DTC 16 will shut the engine down. But that code does not turn on the SES light. You need to scan it.

A problem with the high voltage section (cap and rotor) will not set codes.

 

Maybe I need to scan my car then, lol... could be my problem.

 

give up. I decided to do something different. This time i got my spare coil, hooked it up with the old ICM. started right up. Then i dc the old ICM and put it on my spare ICM and kept the spare coil hooked up. NOTHING. So then i put it all back on the old icm/coil and nothing. kept doing different combinations and NOTHING. Last time i just swithed ICM's and it started. so wtf...idk

A friend of mine dropped his multimeter off. I set it to VDC and got 20v at wire A and D on the computer harness. though the color of my wires were different then what is on shoebox's site but i seen the markings "A" and "D". i checked my battery and 20v popped up too. Is this possible? Am i reading the mutlimeter right? I didnt get a chance to do test wire B for AC while cranking because my battery died. Guess from all those times of trying to start it died out.


Am i supposed to unplug the harness to check these wires? I just stuck the needle point of the multimeter into the wire. Is that okay?

 

okay if anyone cares. i think i got it fixed. I ended up replacing the second connector going to the coil and she started right up. drove it around my apartment complex for the past two days. letting it idle for 10 to 15mins and driving it around trying to imitate city driving. so far so good. So if you are having ignition problems dont run to the opti. start checking all your wiring. I have a feeling that alot of these opti complaints and high rpm misses could be due to the wiring going bad.

 

Did you ever scan it like you said you were going to do? It probably would have set DTC 41 or 42 with the problem you describe. Scanning is always the best first step.

 

no man i never got it scanned. i dont have a scanner or know anyone that does....well now that its running i guess i could take it to autozone and get it scanned there. i really wish i had the money to invest in one.