Goldenboyws6

Ok, this is the story. The water pump of my car needs replacement (leaking from that area, so I am guessing it is the pump). I will be replacing it in 1 or 2 weeks ( i am not driving my car for now). Since I will be working around that area, is it recommended to replace the optispark aswell. My car has 145000 miles on it and I don't know if the optispark has been replaced before. What are the signs of a bad optispark? how often is it necessary to replace it? What is a good brand? I've seen the prices and they are kind of high for a replacement optispark (+$400). Thanks.

dreamer2468

My 1996 CE has over 150,000 miles on it, and the water pump did the same thing, and beings they are both hard to get at, I decided to go ahead and have a new opti put in at the same time because if the water had dripped down into the opti, it would more then likely go soon anyway.

Besides, with that many miles on it, it was way overdue anyway.

It was one of those "while you are in there" things.

You can purchase the less expensive ones, I have read on here that some do, but as hard as it is to get to, I figured why not go for the best and not have to ever worry about it again.

Laura

vettme

Im in the middle of doing my opti , it died @ 71k but my whife's car has 215,000k on it its had 3 water pumps leak on it and hoses blow coolant all over it,never any problems.Mine never had any issues UNTILL it left me on the side of the road.GO FIGURE . From the research Ive done ,every one recomends the O.E.M as a new replacement.

Disarray_kid

LOL my girlfriends 73 GTO never failed on her. But the one day I back it out of the drive way everything goes wrong. So I know what you mean.

tblt44

I would say replace it.Go with a a/c delco/delphi on both water pump and Opti if you can find them it should cost about 500 bucks for both if you do the work yourself.

This is for a 95 -96 and can be found cheaper if you search around.This is just an example of what quality parts will cost you.Note it says distributer but its an Opti.
I would buy Gm parts for these items
Opti 338
http://www.gmpartsdirect.com/catalog/frameset.cfm

water pump 219
http://www.gmpartsdirect.com/catalog/frameset.cfm

don hall

A new opti is no guarantee that it can't fail at any time. There are links to alternatives for the opti, and links to replacement instructions. You might spend the rest of the year reading them. The following links will help with you with your decision. You might search ebay for GM Delco replacements. They used to sell for about $600, now about $75.

Read, and try to understand the delteq system (link below). It replaces the opti without removing the opti, and is a quality alternative. The MSD OPTI has proved to be a successful alternative, also.

http://www.vetteweb.com/tech/vemp_07...tor/index.html

http://www.delteq.com/products_opti.htm

BowTide

I have a Black Rose '93 and need to understand if there is a way to ensure this doesn't happen continually. Has anyone or Co. (?) developed a fix?

Thanks!

RollaMo-LT4

Don't panic too quickly. You will read about a handful or maybe at most hundreds of horror stories about the Opti.

What you don't see is the thousands of cases where there are no issues at all.

I have 101,000 miles on my '96 and haven't had a single issue.
Still on the original Opti, and I wash the engine with water from time to time before a car show.

Granted the '96 has the vented Opti, the point is these things are a little more dependable than most people give them credit for.

Al Borman

Open it up and visually inspect your old opti. Only takes a few minutes to disassemble. You need to get a deep inverted torx socket. you can get a set cheap at Harbor Freight.

If your Opti looks anything like mine did, replace it !! Keep in mind that this Opti is off of my '94, so it does not have the venting. There were 59K miles on this Opti when I replaced it. If you have a lot of miles on your Opti, you can just replace the high voltage parts(cap and rotor). These are the components most likely to failure. The electronic Optical reader is much more robust. Also spin the shaft to make sure the bearings spins freely and without wobble.

2012 coupe

Here is what mine looked like after 150,000 miles on a 1992.







As you can see, no problem insides, except a worn rotor. I am using it for a spare.

Still ran great, but was replacing W/P, so I replaced this also.

mtwoolford

I have a 96 LT4 with similiar mileage; here's my Opti story.

the vent hoses, both the one from the air intake coupler (air into Opti) and the vent line to the intake manifold (air out of Opti) had deteriorated to the point of failure, and of course it was where they ran in back of the accessory drive and weren't visable or accessible. I really think if the vent system had remained intack and functional that nothing more than a rotor and rotor cap replacement would have been necessary. In light of the outstanding service the stock Opti had given, I replaced it with another GM unit.

when installing a new opti, verify, repair the vent system as necessary, use some rtv to seal the rotor cap to the Opti body, and use some (blue) loctite on the screws that hold the rotor to the shaft.

inspect / replace the seal in the timing chain cover as necessary.

plan on some new spark plug wires too.

one last (very important) thing, inspect the electrical pigtail that plugs into the Opti, clean with electrical cleaner or replace if necessary. These are delicate and may be an underlying cause of numerous, "I replaced my Opti and now my car won't run" threads.

AustinJohn

I'm assembling all the Forum advice I can find as I get ready to replace the Opti, water pump, thermostat and driver side valve cover gasket on my '94. My Opti of course isn't vented as was yours but I've noticed you and a couple of other posters recommend rtv to to seal the rotor cap to the Opti body and I would appreciate any further thoughts you or other readers have on the pro's and con's of doing so.

Thanks in advance!

John

James93LT1

Convert your opti to vent.
http://www.corvettefever.com/howto/16758/index.html
or get a MSD cap and rotor which is allready Modded to vent.
See the pics in my profile.

Also, make sure you put some RTV on the base where the electrical connector comes out of the opti, and you should be good to go.

AustinJohn

With all my reading on Opti's I'd never seen that MSD cap and rotor before. It looks like a magic charm at a very fair price but unfortunately I already have my new Opti in hand. So I'll file that away "just in case".

Thanks a million!

John

tombrammer

Take a look at what this guy recommend for replacing the opti, its what I did on my 93 at 100Xmi, good advice. I also bought a nos gm opti off ebay for a good price. http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2467023 just scroll down half way on the page to "opti spark distributor tips". Also replace the crankshaft seal in the timing cover and the sensor in the water pump that turns the fans on and off. Mine went out a couple of weeks after I replaced my water pump and I had to drain the block again to get it out.

jmgtp

My 94 is on the original opti with around 106k miles. The water pump has just begun to leak out the weep hole. I caught it very early and have not driven the car since (ok, save for 1 short drive from its winter home to its summer home for which I had no choice). I have the Meziere HD waiting to go (just need to find the time!). My current plan is to stick with my ancient opti. I know, unwise. But, I'm planning on a hotcam next winter which means upgrading to a pin drive opti - hence I don't want to shell out for a new spline drive opti now. I'll prolly do the venting mod and if things look really bad when I have it out I suppose I'll do the cheap way out and replace the cap/rotor and hopefully that will get me through the summer driving system.

It seems like the longevity of the opti is a roll of the dice but, at 14 years old I have no complaints if mine kicks the bucket and I can only blame myself for not changing it out with the waterpump.

AustinJohn

Thanks for the advice and particularly the link to "Joe's Corvette". What a website!

John

pcolt94

You never know how long a opti is going to last or if the new one will be good or last long time. If you were doing the opti, I would say do the pump also. The pump is some effort to replace but not a bad job all in all. If it is running well, I would leave it alone and just do the pump.

If you decide do the opti, that would be the time to do the wires also. And when you are doing the wires some of the standoffs will also break. So if you decide to do the opti, be prepared to spend a little more money to do the whole thing right.

surfer92

The opti is easy to replace, remove belt, WP, tensioner(pain to reinstall) and crank pulley, remove 3 E4 torx bolts(cover) and 3 10mm bolts holding opti on.

Make a mark on the pulley, so that you can reinstall it correctly and get some 1/4" hose about 12 " and some water resistant adhesive, put the hose into the weep hole. put adhesive around it and let harden, now your WP will never leak onto the opti.
Use Black RTV and put it around the cap and reinstall on the opti and now the opti will not get water in there.
Opti problem solved, I have written this up many times.

As I was told ONCE, search function here is your friend!!

AustinJohn

Good advice. Thanks!

John