Yay! I'm a member of the club!

[Edgar]

On a recent road trip clear across Puget Sound (ok, some of it was by ferry) the ol' 'vette started acting and driving worse than the Vega I had eons ago. This is not a good thing. On a rather steep hill climb I managed a G-force crushing 33 mph with knocking and pinging and general poor performance. Once I was finally over the hill it ran fine and would accelerate and give the deep throaty roar that it should. During the trip back however the pinging and knocking started up and while I could do speed limit it was an effort.

Taking it to the local Chevrolet dealer I found I was a member of the "Opti-spark crap out club." I feel like a real 'vette owner now. I get the car back tomorrow and should be able to burn up the roads again...as long as its before the weekend.

 

[scotch1]

Hi.
Glad you were able to make it back home.
What did your replacement optispark entail and cost?
could you possibly have done the repair yourself?
I'm interested because I recently purchase a 94 convertible.
Tom

 

[Edgar]

Hi.
Glad you were able to make it back home.
What did your replacement optispark entail and cost?
could you possibly have done the repair yourself?
I'm interested because I recently purchase a 94 convertible.
Tom

The part is $675 (ouch) and the shop says 3 hours labor. From reading things on the boards here I also had them check the water pump as the Opti-spark doesn't do well with water and of course its right next to the water pump.

As far as doing it yourself, I'm of the opinion that since I am great at checking oil and fixing computers I'll let Chevy do it.

 

[WhalePirot]

Lots written on doing this, via search. Not a fun job, it seems.

Hopefully the dealer used the improved Opti. Great thinking on the water pump comments! For the incremental cost, probably a REAL good time to change it.

 

[Edgar]

Well I got the car back and the difference is amazing. Its like a brand new car and has all the get up and go that had got up and went. The water pump was good but I had it changed anyway just in case. The performance is like night and day and even the idle is better. Well worth the $1500 it took (just don't tell the wife).