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Old 11-17-2016, 03:48 PM   #1
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did my opti finaly die or could it be somthing else ?

monday night. got into my car ( 96 z28) drove to a store everything was normal. went to leave the store about 20 minutes later. and the car would start up but stall out/die as soon as i shifted into gear. tried for 10 minutes and kept doing the same thing. sat there for about a half hour waiting for a friend to come. he showed up and all the sudden the car fires up and goes into gear. half way home the car dies and won't start back up. went home about 15-20 minutes later went back to the car and it started up drove home fine. 3 hours after that drove the car to work then drove the car home after work no problems. had to drive my brother to his job. on the way home on the parkway it started to hesitate you could tell it just wasnt happy but made it home. later on that day i went out again. the car was driving fine no problems then all the sudden died.


i figured its eather no fuel or no spark. i ruled out the no fuel issue as i can hear my fuel pump working. so that leaves me to believe no spark. now before we all just point directly at the opti-spark. is there anything else i should look at or is this deff syptoms/signs of the opti taking a crap ?
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Old 11-17-2016, 08:37 PM   #2
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Any stored codes? Does it stumble or just quit? A dying / intermittent ignition control module (ICM, mounted on driver side head below coil) has similar symptoms. I had similar issues last year where the car would randomly quit and left me stranded one time (crank with no spark, had to tow home). New ICM with heat sink paste and haven't had a problem since. I never had any codes.
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Old 11-17-2016, 08:44 PM   #3
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I've never experienced opti failure but those symptoms were very similar to my ICM taking a dump. Bought a new one, spaced it off the head and the problem was solved.
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Old 11-17-2016, 11:04 PM   #4
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No codes.

Is there any way to test the icm ? That would be soo much easier to get to then the opti.
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Old 11-18-2016, 01:54 AM   #5
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Sounds like icm
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Old 11-18-2016, 06:27 AM   #6
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Some parts stores can test it. You should test it a **** load of times as they tend to fail with heat.
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Old 11-18-2016, 06:33 AM   #7
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wouldn't hurt to test fuel pressure either. could be your pump on its way out.
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Old 11-18-2016, 03:20 PM   #8
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For all those who said icm. I think i owe you guys a beer at the next meet.
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Old 11-18-2016, 03:25 PM   #9
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Sounds like its fixed.

Check this out if you haven't already. http://shbox.com/1/4th_gen_tech2.html#ICM_cooling
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Old 11-18-2016, 04:02 PM   #10
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****. Might not have been the problem. Just went to go drive the car. And its back to cranking but won't fire. Wtf

I swapped out the icm. It fired right up. A little while later desided to take the car for a quick spin it drove fine. And now back to this.

Last edited by wrong generation; 11-18-2016 at 04:07 PM.
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Old 11-18-2016, 05:05 PM   #11
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Get a buddy and see if you have spark. Check fuel pressure. Spray carb cleaner in intake. Did you use thermal paste on the icm and heat sink?
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Old 11-19-2016, 08:02 AM   #12
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Yes thermal paste was used. My mom is a computer tech so there is plenty of that around lol.

Just for the hell of it i walked out side this morning and the damn thing fired right up. But this time my check engine light was on. Po372.

Whats the cure for this code?
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Old 11-19-2016, 08:27 AM   #13
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Sounds like its the opti
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Old 11-19-2016, 11:12 AM   #14
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Most likely opti failure, how many miles are on it?

Check out this Shbox writeup on diagnosing the opti.
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Old 11-19-2016, 11:16 AM   #15
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no clue how many miles are on it. it could be the original for all i know. the odometer had 251k miles on it when i bought it 3 years ago. im guessing iv put 20k+ in the 3 years iv owned the car. (odometer doesn't work)

funny thing is when i bought the car the guy gave me a brand new opti-spark saying the car needed it but i havnt had any issues in the last 3 years.
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Old 11-19-2016, 07:55 PM   #16
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check the power/signal harness the goes down into the opti on the passenger side. i just had a similar issue and found the end of mine the plastic was all cracked off the plug and was full of oil/coolant/water. ordered a new one for 12 bucks and its perfect now.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vented-Optis...BXjiz~&vxp=mtr
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Old 11-20-2016, 02:22 AM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by maroman88 View Post
check the power/signal harness the goes down into the opti on the passenger side. i just had a similar issue and found the end of mine the plastic was all cracked off the plug and was full of oil/coolant/water. ordered a new one for 12 bucks and its perfect now.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vented-Optis...BXjiz~&vxp=mtr
this
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Old 11-20-2016, 11:47 AM   #18
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well after spending all day yesterday taking the car apart and putting the new opti-spark in. and then today putting the water pump and other stuff back on.

is there any way i could have put the opti in wrong ? thought it only went in one way.

its running like ****. i ether some how put the opti in wrong or got my plug wires mixed up.
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Old 11-20-2016, 12:30 PM   #19
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Its a lot harder on the pin drive vented optis and I don't think it would run if it was wrong. I would check, recheck, and check the plug wiring again. Very easy to mix up on these cars with the routing.
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Old 11-20-2016, 12:41 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sweetbmxrider View Post
Its a lot harder on the pin drive vented optis and I don't think it would run if it was wrong. I would check, recheck, and check the plug wiring again. Very easy to mix up on these cars with the routing.
Lol adam. You say check the firing order like its easy. Any chance you could take a quick ride and help me with it? Your not that far lol.
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Old 11-20-2016, 01:42 PM   #21
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It is easy, go one by one. I'm on call so can't leave.

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Old 11-20-2016, 01:59 PM   #22
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lol iv got that diagram loaded on my phone. but when you have things like a/c on the car and everything else in the way its a ****ing nightmare. would be easier if i had 2 people.

so far iv verified 6 as being correct. i have 2 more to do on the passenger side. had to remove the crank pulley to get to the ones on the passenger side. trying to figure out how to trace these last two.
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Old 11-20-2016, 02:48 PM   #23
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so far iv verified 6 as being correct. i have 2 more to do on the passenger side. had to remove the crank pulley to get to the ones on the passenger side. trying to figure out how to trace these last two.

If your down to only two, just switch them and see if it runs better
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Old 11-20-2016, 03:40 PM   #24
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Ok all 8 plug wires are correct. So much for that being tge issue.

The two vacuum lines on the opti if i mixed them up. Would that cause it not to run right?
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Old 11-20-2016, 04:02 PM   #25
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Here is a vid. Maybe you guys can tell me the issue based off the sound.
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