I just got done installing my new optispark on my 1993. Well needless to say no Joy it did not start. Cranks over but wont fire up and to top it off I see little driplets of water coming from somewhere in the water pump. I checked all the hose connections and they looked good. The weep hole I have rerouted so thats not it and I installed the pump flush so Im wondering where the hell the water driplets are coming from. Very few driplets to say the least and they are dripping on the puter bootd of the plug wires on the passenger side. so I just drained the coolant before anything goes wrong and there is no water on the opti. I also sealed the opti up pretty good with he rtv sealent so Im not worried anything happened. I pulled the coil wire from my truck and stuck it on the msd coil and put a spark plug in the other end to see if I got any spark from the coil. I did not see any spark at all
so this is where I am at and I need help diagnosing this. I havent checked any fuses and seems to me like I didnt have an opti problem to begin with probably something else. I bought the car like this cranked but no start. Any help in diagnosing this will be greatly appreciated. Looks like its not gonna be an easy fix

 

wow no one has any insights lol

 

These should get you started. Next time perform a proper inspection before swapping parts. My money is on the MSD coil being a turd. The water is either residual from removing the pump, or a result of your not installing it properly. Did you replace the gaskets? Make sure the surfaces were clean? Torque the bolts to spec? Water pump could also just be bad.

 

No offense, Mike, maybe it's just the way you wrote it up. But it seems a little haphazard.

If I understand you the car is new to you and had no spark when you got it. You threw an opti at it and it still has no spark. And you haven't checked for blown fuses.

Do you have the shop manual? What have you checked? Any other new parts? Codes?

It's a little late now, but you could have tested this before putting the water pump on. Just to see if it would fire.

This could be as simple as one broken wire. You're gonna have to get your meter and your wiring diagram out and start eliminating things one at a time.

 

What did you put on the waterpump bolts????
I still can't get that pulley off of mine.
I may try putting it together with bolts loose and start her up for a few seconds.

 

I feel for ya bro. Im feelin it. Boy talk about a tough situation that damper must be pissing ya off. I did put thread sealer on the bolts. My bet is the waterpump is bad even though it looks new and the optispark I had taken off looked new also wow this is gonna be some learning experience

 

All good questions yes I bought it like this and correct I threw an optispark at it. I mean the guy said he changed the coolant sensor and thats when problems happened. The one I took out looked good to me
In anycase I have performed a few tests that indocate to me its the opti that I may have gotton a bad opti. One of the tests I checked for was the pulsing ground from a fuel injector with a test light. I got no pulsing ground signal. With KOEO the light is green but once I start cranking nothing at all. This I have heard indicates that the opti is not sending the signal. I also have tested for power to the ICM and it shows power and there seems to be power to the optispark also as I tested a few wires and the light lit up with the KOEO. So I pulled the coil wire from the optispark put a spark plug in it and grounded it to the intake and no spark. This is where I am at right now. I also checked all the fuses everyone of them and they all look good

So this is where I am at. Can it be two bad optisparks or is something else wrong as it appears to me. I mean if I stick a spark plug on one end of the coil wire and get no spark doesnt that indictae the coil is bad. Its not like the Opti feeds the coil. Boy this wont be easy

 

"Next time perform a proper inspection before swapping parts"

"It's a little late now, but you could have tested this before putting the water pump on. Just to see if it would fire"

Problem is so MANY guys HATE TO test; I see this ALL THE TIME. They prefer just to throw parts at a problem and hope one of them fixes it. Parts Changers.

Then, when I post a detail testing procedure or point the direction where it can be found, it's ignored (aversion to reading) and the guy goes and buys yet more parts. Hundreds of dollars later he's in the same spot.

And, YES, I just WENT THROUGH THIS WITH MY SON!!! - Against my STRONGLY WORDED ADVICE NOT TO HE BECAME A PARTS CHANGER.

I'd LOVE to help but unless OP is willing to test, well . . .

Jake

 

Coil may be fine. What you do know is that spark isn't coming from the coil. Could be the coil. Could be the ECM. Could be the little coil control module that goes next to the coil. You need to troubleshoot it to find out!

 

yeah no I hear ya well Im out here with my tester testing everything I can according to instructions and so far I have found that the b terminlal from the ICM set to ac gives absolutely no voltage and it should be 1 to 4 volts a/c I have many other tests to perform but something is leading me to beleive this maybe an ecu or harness to opti related problem. I say this because to be honest the old optio I pulled out looked very recent and shinny and new and now I install this one and the same problem so Im testing away. Power to the ICM is over 10 volts so that checks out. The injector test for pulsing ground showed no pulsing ground so far it looks like an ecu opti or harness problem. Id like it to be a coil but it doesnt seem like that will be it although I will test that out also. Im gonna go and wiggle some of the connections at the ecu to see if that does anything and Im gonna look for broken wires on the connections to opti icm and coil etc. Lot of work but I have a feeling Ill be able to find the problem somehow with the great help I have always gotton on here. any other suggestions or insights based on these posts please let me know and thank you again

Mike
Long Island

 

Ok I think I found a paculiar problem. I took a look at the ecu up above the battery. I can see it was removed at one time as the screws where still loose. So I took it off its braket and jiggled some of the wires at various points to see if perhaps a connection isnt being made. When doing this I tapped on the box a few times lightly and with the KOEO sometimes the interior light would come on. I have the door open and notice that it isnt on, next the fans would kick on both the ac fan and the auxillery fan. If I tapped the box again it would shut the fans off. If I hit it again you could hear the fuel pump come on and the fans start again. It also appears that the top of this ecu is indented slightly indicating that this person might have punched it. I know the expressed tremendous frustration with the car at one point. Also at some points I could hear the arching inside the box as I twisted the wires only once or twice but enough to alarm me. Personally I think the problem I am having is related to this ecu at this point. I mean I should be able to move that box around and tap it lightly and none of that **** happens or am I wrong

Any thoughts on this please

Mike

 

Mike checking for fire before putting the WP on is a good Idea ! Does the engine pop or try to start at all ?

There are three holes in the cam the pin will go into but it will only seat correctly all the way in one of them .

If it pops or backfires it's not right. Also when checking it it might not run real well with the map and temp unplugged.

If you miss on the drivers side OPTI wires you can figure out which cylinders are crossed and switch them at the plugs.

Also on the water in addition to sealing the bolts check for a peice of old gasket left on the block .

The harness that plugs into the opti is replaceable and cheap at NAPA Our stuff is getting old and prone to failure when removed.

http://www.impalasuperstore.com/nais...lace,with,pics

 

CONGRATULATIONS! I see you're going about it the right way.

You have a 91, right?? If that's correct I probably can't be of much help since, when in comes to ignition problems, I've only dealt with the 86 and the 96 - So those years probably don't have a lot in common with the 91.

Keep us posted and if I see anything in your posts that rings a bell, I'll chime in.

Jake

 

WOW!! I think you're ON to something; none of that should be happening. Keep after it.

Even if it turns out that all that craziness is totally unrelated to your no-spark issue it still needs repair.

Jake

 

This is not going to be an easy fix. Its obvious something strange is up with this. I need a wiring diagram of which pinout the icm wires go to on the pcm and where the return white icm wire is on the pcm. With that I could test continuity and see if the pcm is sending an ac signal to that wires
. Im suspecting the wiring harness connections have issues or the pcm
all I do know is that if I wiggle some wires at that pcm the fans will go on wierd stuff. Wow myself a nice headach now
Im notgonna give up though Im just gonna need a lot of help. The fella who posted that diagram for me for the opti testing above well when I get to step four and it asks if I have ac voltage at the icm white wire which I dont, the box that shows the next step is highlighted in blue and I dont see any info on what to do next. so I stumped there

also wanted to ask when Im cranking the car the oilpressure only goes up to like 20 psi is there an oil cut off that would disable the ignition system from firing causing my lack of signal. I figure this is a good question if that was the case. For what its worth I checked to se if the rail is getting fuel and it seems so a nice spurt came out

Last Ill be amazed if I can fix this but Im gonna calm down and walk away from it an wait to hear back from some of you guys who might really be able to help me. All help is greatly appreciated at this point

Mike

 

Mike, I feel your frustration and that's a tough problem you're dealing with. You are a wise man to step away from the car! Keep at it and keep us informed, as I'd like to know how it turned out too. I read these, because it just may be me, having this problem in the future.

 

Thanks and I hear ya. It sure is a tough one. No easy fix here thats for sure. I wish there was a way to rule out the optispark without an aciliscope which I have no idea how to use. Right now I think im gonna order a new optispark which is under warrenty. It seems like the best way to go because of the fact that anything else will require a new pcm or harness etc and that can be a lot of bucks. Im definitely not getting the pulsing injectors or the ac voltage to the ICM. The motor is clean and there isnt any contamination on the contacts its a very clean car. My suspicion is pcm or opti. Im still open to all information I can get for checks. I cannot check for continuity because I cant identify which wires to test at the pcm. I hope someone can point me in that direction and then I can test for that but in themeanwhile Im like why cant I just test the signals and power coming from the opti harness to verify if it is sending a signal to the pcm this would rule everything else out. Wow

I only have a few words left and thats Thank God I have Jeep it never lets me down and just keeps running lol Can I get an amen to that at least LOL

 

I got my scanner maybe ill have some codes. Gonna check that out tonight

 

This si gonna sound like the dumbest question but where is the OBD1 port for the scanner. If it is located under the drivers side up above the plastic cover this is one inefficient design usually they are riight there to plug into under the dash. I cant find mine anyone know where to look. My car is a 1993

 

You were getting warm when you were messing with the ECM. I'd take it out and look it over.