Inside the LT1 Optispark
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- Опубликовано: 13 окт 2024
- A quick look a the inner workings of a new optispark distributer for my Caprice. Its a good idea to put loctite on the 2 screws that hold the rotor down, they tend to come loose and will ruin your day. This particular optispark is an after market one sold by a member on the impala ss forum. He has had good luck with these so far, so I am willing to give it a shot. This is not one of the cheap-ass ones off ebay that die after a few hundred miles.
I have always had good luck with these things with nothing more than a new delco cap and rotor. The original sensors rarely fail unless contaminants get in from a failed seal. When I install one I usually test run the engine without the water pump on just to make sure it will start. You can safely run it for a couple minutes without the pump just to make sure it works.
If the actual sensor goes it will not start at all these sensors do not intermitently fail there either work or they dont. Keep that in mind. Usualy its a coroded contact in the harness or bad cap and rotor
Thanks for posting this. An interesting look inside. My '94 corvette has an LT1 and I often wonder if the slight hesitation it seems to have on moderate to hard take offs are due to the optispark beginning to fail. I have thought about trying MSD's version of the distributor.
Interesting vid.......I have the optispark on the LT1 in my Studebaker. I haven't had any problems with mine yet, but it's always a concern. Thanks for giving us a look inside.
@dewfall56 if its contaminated with oil or coolant it could be. You should check the seals by pulling both vent hoses, covering the vent hose that came from the intake elbow and sucking on the one off the manifold. See if it holds a vacuum. Mine held nothing and tasted like oil. I had heard that MSD's cap and rotor are good, but whole opti units fail.
@steelfury455 If your opti is still working and just needs a cap and rotor, you can get delco parts for a lot less than the whole unit. I have used the knock off units and will never waste my time/money again. The first one I bought seemed to work ok, but would make a loud tick when it was hot. The second one had crap seals and couldn't hold a vacuum.
@moldymac ya.. I need to get some T8 torx bits for the rotor! maybe china freight has those too
@moldymac thanks, i was about to get a no name for 90 bucks on ebay. actually i believe the autozone versions are the cheapies too. worked for 2 years before going south. ill check your guy out.
My optispark on my 95 Lt1 impala has 2 vacuum lines at the bottom of the old optispark and the new optispark has only 1 place for a vacuum line at the top of the optispark?
I brlieve mine failed today. Started out losing power under acceleration, later in the day, went to pass a car, started backfiring horribly, engine shut down. Now when i try to start it, it just backfires like crazy and wont stay running. My opti is a month old, was bought at Oreillys.
????The sensor is not what typically fails???? It's the cap and rotor that go out so quick.
I tried a Cardone opti from Autozone, the cap and rotor are great but the sensor lasted for 1.5 years and it died on me which means the whole opti has to be replaced, it just sucks... Now I went with Delphi, I will install it this weekend.. Lots of fun coming my way replacing it LOL
I was wondering what’s inside these things
You did good if you got 1.5yrs out of the sensor, they don't usually make it around the block before dying. I have used their cap and rotors on my delco optis without issue. I suppose if you buy a reman and swap a good sensor into it then it should last.
Sounds good, I see the video is back from 2010, is it still working fine?
I would say this is a Delco because it has a Mitsubishi optical sensor in it. Only the Delco ones had that brand, all others had some no name brand.
@ghtowagon yours looked pretty good. I am interested to see what my existing one looks like, the vent harness had some oil in it when I checked last. I helped a friend with his opti that had 52k on it, had a nice film of oil on everything and it still worked.
This was an original Delco unit. The mitsubishi sensor is the giveway for that.
Yup, still going without any issues.
Do you know what brand it is? Looks a lot like the ones from A1 Cardone from AutoZone and Rock Auto..
whats the guys name or forum id i am interested in purchasing one of his distributors.
I usually do the same, let the engine run with water pump off. Not fun to bolt the pump, put in coolant and then realize you crossed a wire or 2. Or it's a bad unit lol...I hate the optispark.
@steelfury455 The best place to get an AC delco is from a seller on ebay (hamilton_chevy), you can get chinese knock offs for next to nothing on ebay or from the parts stores, but they are unreliable and not worth the work to install just to have to replace it.
rotor screws. that's happened to me,, good idea
so where can i buy one of these?
Ya, Took one apart a year or so ago. I have a videooooo!
so has anyone used the Dynaspark units?
I bought a new 500.00 Billet MSD Opti thinking I was getting the best possible unit, and after assembling the whole motor, found it was DOA, set code 36 or 32 (forgot), indicating no hi resolution signal. MSD does not use the Mitsubishi sensor.
Someone should post a way to test these OUT OF THE CAR to be certain the unit is good before going through all the work twice if it's bad, like mine was.
I went with one from Chris Petris, petris.com, much better.
Have a petris optispark on my Firebird no problem 3 years now
@ghtowagon I'm sure of it, I don't think theres a tool they don't have.
Could very well be. Those parts store ones are total garbage. The only reliable ones out there are genuine Delco ones. If the one you replaced still worked just get a cap and rotor for it and throw it back in. With the back fire I would start with fuel pressure though before you starting taking parts off.
Just change the cap and wires clean the inside and be done with it.
Interesting...
That stuff is in the past upgrade yourself LSsssssss!!!!
They are, the brandless ones are garbage.