Replacement Opti

[John Robinson]

I have been pricing opti's and ran across this site http://carpartstoyourdoor.com/optispark9294.htm

The price is good and I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this company and it's products.

 

[Itshakes]

Opti

It looks like a good deal---BUT--- If you read the fine print at the bottom it says "ALL SALES ARE FINAL". I see a red flag when I read that! Don't settle for anything but Genuine Delco. I know they are expensive but you get what you pay for!

 

[Paul Higg]

I JUST had mine replaced with genuine Delco OEM. It is running like new. I have a year warranty on parts and labor. I always try to go with OEM parts.

Paul

 

[Toms007]

Well, I followed the "Buy genuine GM" mantra, and I got burned. Bought a GM/Delco opti in March 07 and it appears that it is the center of my problem. Sorry, but bite the bullet and get an MSD. This is truly an upgrade, it even turns the opti into a fully vented unit similar to the later 95-96 versions.

 

[Paul Higg]

Well, I stand corrected Tom. I wish I knew about the MSD brand before I had mine installed. You guys have a LOT more knowledge than me, that's why I come here. Thanks. Paul

 

[John Robinson]

It looks like a good deal---BUT--- If you read the fine print at the bottom it says "ALL SALES ARE FINAL". I see a red flag when I read that! Don't settle for anything but Genuine Delco. I know they are expensive but you get what you pay for!

"ALL SALES ARE FINAL". Thanks for the heads up on this I missed it in the fine print


you get what you pay for Yup I feel like an idiot putting the lower price wires on my car now I can't afford to use the AC Delco wires which would probably cure the problem. I was given a new set of wires same make but I am going to use them and put wire covers over them and use extra care in how I route them in the harnesses.:duh:duh

 

[LT4man]

There is also a manufacturer's warranty on the Opti. The description says to contact the seller immediately if there is an issue within the first 12 months. No mileage is stipulated.

Doesn't seem like a bad deal at all.

SAVE THE

 

[rascal_rascal_99]

I replaced mine early this year and went with the MSD opti...Tom is right, it's much better built than the original GM opti, it's not cheap, but I feel like it's worth it.

 

[John Robinson]

There is also a manufacturer's warranty on the Opti. The description says to contact the seller immediately if there is an issue within the first 12 months. No mileage is stipulated.

Doesn't seem like a bad deal at all.

SAVE THE

Gregory I stand corrected you obviously are much younger then me an certainly have better eyesight. I am thinking that I will be needing a new opti and this is certainly the best price I have seen. As for the GM design being bad I don't know what others think but it seems to me that mine lasted 18 years and I have no idea how the car was stored or run before I got it so I think GM did not do so bad with this design. If I can get a new GM Opti I would guess it would last another 18 years in which case they will have to dig up my grave to change the opti then

I will be taking the water pump off soon because I smell antifreeze and can not find the source so I want to look the pump over carefully although it is only 4 years old. At that time if I have not found the source of my miss when the engine is hot I will remove the opti and open it up to see if it needs to be replaced.hnoeshnoes

 

[jmccloud]

Antifreeze odor

John,
Before removing the water pump, check the 'flow control' that's in the heater line below the black pressurized tank. The 'flow control' prevents high pressure from reaching the heater core during high revs. The 'flow control' is a plastic part, barely visible in the heater feed line (most of it is in the heater line).
Mine leaked for months and I feared that the heater core was leaking because of the antifreeze odor. The 'flow control' eventually split into and dumped most of the coolant into the engine bay. It's less than $20 at the dealer and can be easily replaced.
I never found dribbles from it but probably could have if I'd known to feel it while the coolant was pressurized (well warmed up).
Hope this helps.

 

[tuff96lt1]

I recently split the diff between GM and MSD and went with Accel via Summit. Works great , fully vented and no problems at all.

 

[Vettebigguy]

Hey, John, that sounds exactly what happened to me. After a whole bunch of miss diagnosis, it turned out to be the opti-spark . many guys told me that and it was true. There is a module inside the opitspark that fails. If if was like mine and origonal, there is no way to change the module without changing the whole distributor. ( you can change some of them with the aftermarket distributors ) If you can email me direct I will show you the pictures of the inside of my opti-spark, it was rusted so bad it is hard to believe the car ran at all. IF by chance it isn't the Opti-spark I do have abrand new ECM for the '93 LT1 I want to sell. Thney thought it was the ECM , so i bought one , only to find it wasn't. So I have ane ECM that is really of no need to me.
I would see if someone has a good Sun Scope and see if it is the Opti-spark,. The guy that diagnosed mine , showed me a print out of it whejn cold and running fine, and then when she got hot and then died. It is eaxctly like a heart monitor, and shows the heart beat and then , it is like the car is having a heart attack, the Opti-saprk can't figure out which cylinder to fire...email me.. Jeff

 

[So Bay Vetter]

I replaced my opti with a stock Delco but, before putting it in, I ran a bead of high temp RTV all the way around each joint and sealed the wires on the plug with it as well (as the plug assy. was also corroded and needed to be replaced) 10K miles ago and all is well . . . so farhnoes

 

[Vettebigguy]

I sure hope the guy who replaced my opti did that....good thought, maybe I'd better check with him...sure don't want to go thru this again...thanks for the idea !!

 

[Tom B Hargrove]

My original opti was working when I replaced the waterpump at 86,000 miles. I replaced the opti with an AC that I found on ebay for $215. That was 11,000 miles ago, and I expect it to go for years. The MSD is no doubt an excellant unit, but I don't think its worth more than twice the price of the GM unit. The Delco's work quite well when properly installed.

 

[LT4man]

The "Delco" unit is designed and is built by Mitsubishi. Mitsu is one of the leading manufacturers of electrical parts in the world.

The OEM units are designed to last 100,000-150,000 miles. Most do.

SAVE THE

 

[Toms007]

My original opti was working when I replaced the waterpump at 86,000 miles. I replaced the opti with an AC that I found on ebay for $215. That was 11,000 miles ago, and I expect it to go for years. The MSD is no doubt an excellant unit, but I don't think its worth more than twice the price of the GM unit. The Delco's work quite well when properly installed.

Well I could take offense to that statement, but I won't because I know for a fact that I installed the GM opti correctly, and I had my issues with it with around 6000 miles. Now I suppose that I could have just replaced the cap and rotor (which were shot), but I elected to go with something "different". I know that there are a lot of guys here that tout "Genuine GM" and I have tried to follow that mantra, but if you get burned it's a bummer. I hope that this MSD unit is all it is cracked up to be.....time will tell.

By the way anyone out there who want s Genuine AC/Delco GM opti I'd like to sell the one I have. It only has about 6000 miles on it and is in need of a rotor and cap.