just wondering which normally goes out, the eye, or cap/rotor. Im talking STOCK applications, not a high-rev situation where the rotor flies apart.

 

generally, the cap/rotor fails
however, coolant/oil/rust(from the bearing or plate) can blind/damage the sensor

plus, the connector and the harness terminals can corrode

 

I'd say the largest problem over the years was the opti screws working themselves loose. I cringe to think of how many optis were thrown away that only needed some loc-tite to restore to operating order again...

 

The bearing are shot in mine. Starting to miss a little here and there. Gotta get a new one soon I guess.

 

My water pump ended up leaking on mine, destroyed the cap and rotor.

 

How can coolant "destroy" a cap and rotor? They are nothing but plastic and metal.

 

Got water in mine a while back. Car would not start, just massive backfires.
(Read: orange flames out TB)

Replaced cap and rotor and it runs fine now.

 

cap and rotor = 2x, sensor = 1x

gotta love the noise of turning the opti and hearing clunks and feeling it stick to the destruction inside.

 

Mine have always had good cap and rotors but the optical sensor went. So the optical sensor on mine.

 

Same here.

 

Was it still wet when you pulled it out? Never heard of a car backfiring just because the cap/rotor was wet or even corroded. I'm wondering if it was wet if you would've been able to simply dry it off, clean any corrosion off and see if it would've worked. I understand that would've been a PITA to do by taking the risk of re-installing bad parts, but it's still a possibility...

I dunno... in the 10+ years I've owned this car I've only had two optis on it and they still both work. The first one had the rotor screw problem and was drenched in coolant for over a week and all it needed was to dry out. I reckon I've had great luck.

 

It was dry by then.
I got it Wet on a rainy Sunday morning (6" of standing water ) but it drove home just fine.
I washed and waxed it and left it in the garage.

When I tried to turn it over that night, it shook violently and would not start.
I drained the oil (it was fine), poped the spark plugs (seemed dry) and let it
sit overnight. The next day I could get it to backfire, but would not start.

That Wednesday, I finally got around to working on it. (it was still backfiring)
I pulled the cap and rotor off, replaced them and it started right up.
I returned the opti base I had purchased to the autoparts store.

 

270,000 on the original. We'll see how it like rpms when I get the motor back together!