I am very, very certain this (contamination on the lenses) is 90% cause of failures on these things. I've had two "bad" ones, cleaned the lenses and put them back in service.

 

I had replaced the optidrive hole seal (on the cam chain cover) when i originally installed the 8381 with a GM seal but seems to seep a little. I had a blue colored oil seeping out of the back of the 8381. MSD replaced that seal. I did have power steering fluid seeping from the reservoir to pump. Power steering fluid had coated the right front (facing the car) of the engine. It had ruined that side of the spark plug cable boots at the opti. The fluid had also coated that side of the opti.
I repaired that hose.

 

So what would be the best opti? I believe stock unit is the best one, at this point....at least for 94-96

 

Whay year is your car? 92

 

Yes. I have a 92.

 

I've heard you can't buy a new GM opti,only re manufactured. Not positive though, going with MSD.

 

That seems like a bad choice; most expensive option, middle of the road reliability (aka...not good)

 

I have stock unit 75000 mi, 22 years old

 

Well... MSD is expensive but repairable for $150 turnkey.

 

MSD claims good through 10,000 RPM also. Something a weakness of the OEM was a 7,000 RPM limit - at least that's what the rumors/gossip say. Well it's pretty rare someone would need a >7,000 RPM motor but if you do you would otherwise need to upgrade the whole ignition system to something else like a 24X.

Also like the ±5 degree timing adjustment.

Well glade to read the failure was mechanical rather than electronic/sensor.

 

What option would be better?

 

For MY money? I'd buy the cheapest one I could get w/a warranty. The Sac City one that is advertised on here. Now...If the MSD were proven to be reliable, then the debate would be: is the extra money (~2.5x more) worth avoiding the R&R? For me, probably not as I could bust one out in about an hour. I'd still probably buy the cheepy, take that gamble, and not sweat the labor, if it failed. Others would do differently, but there would be a "debate" depending on people's circumstance.

But the MSD isn't reliable. I've seen as many MSD failed posts on here as any brand...probably more. So what's the premium getting you? Nothing of any value, IMO. FYI, I have "no dog in this fight" (not that there is a fight)...I bought a NAPA/Echlin brand when mine failed. Why? Not b/c I thought it was "the best" but because I needed it in a pinch (right now) and it was there/available. That was 4 years and ~30,000 miles ago, so it's working.


O.K. But isn't that about the same price as the Sac City unit on here that has a 2 year warranty?

So you buy a MSD, $500 or something, it dumps, you spend $150, now you've spent $650.... You could have bought another Sac City, and had 4 years worth of warranty...or one on the shelf!

Sorry, but there is no value in the MSD unit, IMO. Except for those guys turning over 8k RPM RPM.

 

Sac City doesn't have a vented opti for a 92 and warranty would void if you modify. So that point is mute.

 

I thought mine was doing well after installation only a few thousand miles ago. Wrong. It is failing. I called Petris. They seem to do things better on the assembly and parts inside. Hope to install it shortly. I had a good Dynaspark years ago. It lasted a long time. I bought another dynaspark to replace it when it failed but that one failed right out of the gate. It seems dynaspark had started replacing guts with cheaper parts. I paid good money for this current failed MSD. I figured the adjustability for timing and billet made would be great. wrong. I hope to report good things with the new Petris unit.

 

It's not mute. The warranty is still there for two years..."vented" or not. That's coverage for longer than most MSD units that I've seen posted about on here...vented or not.

Who cares if the thing is vented if it takes a dump on you? Who cares if it's NOT vented if it lasts for years and/or has a good warranty? What I care about is price and results. MSD doesn't seem to deliver in the promise that it's price implies.

 

Yes, it's mute. The LT1 needs to have a vented optispark.

 

You'll have to tell my car that then. Went 155k on the original, now 4 years/30k on the replacement...no vent. LT1 doesn't "need" it. Again...who cares what it's got, it if works? I don't.

 

Does anybody know how many labor hours a shop would charge to replace an opti?

 

Who know what "a shop" would charge...that shop would know.

Mitchell calls for 3.5 hours, 2.6 warranty. I think it can be done in less than 2 hours.

 

Here it is...

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