So I'm driving home from work today..stop and go traffic. It's about 90 outside, maybe. Nice and humid. About midway through my drive, all of a sudden I'm blessed by CAGS, so I play the game shift from 1st to 4th, when what happens? Read on, brave adventurer.

I hit 4th at about 1200rpm, thanks to CAGS. As I do my usual put-more-pressure-on-the-gas-to-get-up-to-speed routine, I happen to hear a DISGUSTING set of popping noises coming from my engine compartment, and also am surprised to find that I have absolutely NO power. I further tested this by shifting early in other gears to put the engine under load again. Sure thing, no matter what gear or RPM, any time the engine is under load it begins ticking, popping, and crackling.

Fluid levels are fine. Oil pressure is right where it ought to be. Car has 94000 miles. I just replaced my plugs with AC Delco Platinums and changed my wires (including my coil wire) to MSD 8.5mm's about 500 miles ago. Any chance this took the opti with it? I was hoping it was something else, maybe EGR or something, but even when the car is cold it does it.

Looks like it's my opti. Can someone please confirm this with me? I've visually inspected the wires - I find no burns. I don't think it's the coil, as that would cause misses at high RPM's - this is pure plug fouling. Disgusting nasty popping, then surge and she takes off like a bat out of hell.

PS: how hard is it to replace an opti, and how much can i get everything I need from Jason Cromer for?

Thanks for your time.

Bryan

 

Since I have already removed the AIRPump and a few other things...its simple. Take the intake peices out of the way. Unbolt the Ignition Module/Coil from the front of the head, (In your case you have to now remove a few bolts for the airpump) Then remove hoses/drain coolant from radiator. 6 bolts and the waterpump is off. From there you have the Opti. Few more bolts and its free.

Its not all that difficult to do and It took me 1.5~2hrs to take mine off and put it back on. (Had to work at 2pm... started at 11:30am) So I was rushing to get it done.

I just did a rebuild kit from Napa 140.00 and that was close to a year ago (18,000 miles)

 

It not that hard for the opti. But it took me about 6 hrs to take off and put back on because i ran into problems. If i had to do it again i could probably get it done in about 2-3 hrs. One question about the cags though. Can't you go from 1st to 3rd? I know i was able to on my car. I never went from 1st to 4th. But when i bought the cags eliminator it said "to get rid of the 1st to 4th shift". Was something wrong with my car or did it very for different years.

 

Maybe the solenoid wasn't functioning right. CAGS is from 1st to 4th. So you're pretty sure it's the opti, then?

Here's what I plan on getting from Jason Cromer so far, can someone help me with part numbers?

Non-vented Opti: P/N #10457702
Cap: P/N?
Rotor: P/N?
Stock Coil: P/N?
Water Pump Gasket: P/N?


I assume this, some razor blades, and black RTV will be all I need to finish this job off properly?

 

The GM opti is complete with cap and rotor, so you don't need to buy them separately. If you think it might be the coil, replace it first before getting an opti.
If you do the opti, it would be good to get a pair of water pump o-rings, too (p/n 12553792 ea.).
Water pump gaskets p/n 10128343 ea.
94-95 coil p/n 10477208.
All these p/n's are on my part number page.

 

Rob,

Thanks for what you do for us

 

Ditto!! *sniff* We love you man..

 

Get the car scanned first......

 

Aww c'mon, Dave. They guy is trying to jump start the economy!

Dave has a point :blah: . Try your best to rule out what it isn't before spending your hard earned cash on parts.

 

....while you're ordering parts, splurge and spend the $30 for the CAGS elminator. Best $30 you'll ever spend on your Z.

 

I've been there before.... It really stinks to replace your spark plugs then your wires then your coil then your ignition module then find out that it was the opti to begin with. Luckily I know this guy so I can help him out. At this point he has new wires and plugs. So the only two things ignition related left are the opti and coil (maybe ignition module). I vote opti, because it is under full throttle at low rpms vice the symptoms a coil would show such as missing at high rpms. I have not actually seen the car yet. So it is hard to diagnose the problem over the phone, let alone a message board

But he also likes to ask the worst case scenarios. Then gets worked up about it. Yea, I'm talking about you. You gotta take it easy Bryan. These are LT1's they were meant to fudge up every so often

And.... there are easier and cheaper ways to eliminate CAGS. Simply unplug the harness to the actuator. Frown upon it if you may, but the ONLY side effects are a non-visual stored code and the skip shift light still lights up. If you ask me it saves $30 bucks.

 

If you *buy* a $30 eliminator, the light still comes on. So that's $30 NOT well spent :P I've heard the best way to eliminate CAGS is to have madwolf tune it out when you buy your program. That make sense? Anyway, yeah, I'll probably stop by Auto Zone tonight and ask them to check my computer for codes. And yes I'm a hysteric pessimist I hate things going wrong, and my HQMC-ified troubleshooting techniques tend to leave me with the worst case scenario That's just the breaks for me.. :\ Besides, aren't the opti or coil all that's left to be wrong at this point?

Remember when John said he pressure washed the engine before we came? I think that's what did the Opti in, cause I kept saying the car was running odd and not producing the same power yours was.. :\ Thoughts?

 

My A4 Z28 is doing the same thing but it also stutters from 1000-2000 rpms im getting a new opti and water pump this weekend I hope it fixes it ...