Has anyone else ever spun the shaft of an optispark while its hooked up but uninstald
11-18-2015, 05:57 PM
#1
Race Director
Thread Starter
Has anyone else ever spun the shaft of an optispark while its hooked up but uninstald
I got tired of installing defective optisparks and started 'testing them' key on, hooked up, by spinning the shaft before buttoning everything back up.
The results (on functioning optisparks) were explosive with sparks jumping 4 to 6 inches out of the legs of the distributor to ground itself to metal parts of he car. I was amazed how far the sparks would arc!
Im lucky i didnt get zapped.
I should also add that i had an msd 6 hooked up to it too.
Wish i had a video to post.
Has anyone else done this (and been surprised by the explosiveness) ?
The results (on functioning optisparks) were explosive with sparks jumping 4 to 6 inches out of the legs of the distributor to ground itself to metal parts of he car. I was amazed how far the sparks would arc!
Im lucky i didnt get zapped.
I should also add that i had an msd 6 hooked up to it too.
Wish i had a video to post.
Has anyone else done this (and been surprised by the explosiveness) ?
Last edited by dizwiz24; 11-18-2015 at 05:57 PM.
11-18-2015, 06:13 PM
#2
Race Director
LOL
Never tried it but I have "tickled" circut 430 on many different gm vehicles, which is basically the same thing ...... Anyone who has never done this should proceed with extreme caution.
Never tried it but I have "tickled" circut 430 on many different gm vehicles, which is basically the same thing ...... Anyone who has never done this should proceed with extreme caution.
11-18-2015, 06:29 PM
#3
Team Owner
Pro Mechanic
I didn't have those results, b/c I applied some common sense and placed the coil wire near a ground, rather than forcing the spark to ground through where ever it could find.
In your case, testing a new one, you'd want to install all 8 plug wires, and lay the plug ends near a ground. Spark will jump out the boot to ground.
.
Last edited by Tom400CFI; 11-18-2015 at 06:31 PM.
11-18-2015, 06:58 PM
#4
Race Director
Thread Starter
I have...and I have a video to post. I did it when diagnosing/PROVING to myself that my problem was heat related.
I didn't have those results, b/c I applied some common sense and placed the coil wire near a ground, rather than forcing the spark to ground through where ever it could find.
large - YouTube
In your case, testing a new one, you'd want to install all 8 plug wires, and lay the plug ends near a ground. Spark will jump out the boot to ground.
.
I didn't have those results, b/c I applied some common sense and placed the coil wire near a ground, rather than forcing the spark to ground through where ever it could find.
large - YouTube
In your case, testing a new one, you'd want to install all 8 plug wires, and lay the plug ends near a ground. Spark will jump out the boot to ground.
.
I had the cap/rotor on mine when i did this. No plug wires attached. Again, spark shot out of the legs of the cAp when i would spin the shaft.
Any idea why or which part fails under heat? Ive had the same issue (car starts up cold, idles for 2 minutes or so then shutsdown and wont restart for 6 hours! And this was on a brand new ac delco remanufactured gen 2 optispark!!!)
Im assuming its something in the optical sensor that craps out under heat and you have proven this by doing this experiment with the cap and rotor off!
Last edited by dizwiz24; 11-18-2015 at 06:58 PM.
11-18-2015, 07:17 PM
#5
Team Owner
Pro Mechanic
I really don't know. I don't know enough about the electronics to have any useful ideas. Others have stated that the optics CAN'T fail due to heat. IDK.
Sorry.
11-19-2015, 01:37 PM
#6
Melting Slicks
My theory is a weak soldering of the Optical Sensor at the factory is exaggerated when the unit is heated up and causes tolerances to expand possibly losing contact intermittently until the unit is cooled back down again. Could certainly be wrong, but it seems plausible.
The original optisparks seem to go 100k+ and don't really have this problem until later in their life after thousands of heating/cooling cycles.
The original optisparks seem to go 100k+ and don't really have this problem until later in their life after thousands of heating/cooling cycles.
