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The unanswerable question


FormulaForce
06-14-2006, 12:25 PM
I have the classic "It may be the opti-spark, or it may not be" problem.
Rough idle, extreme power loss, slight overheating, and NO CODES. It's almost undrive-able. Replaced the plug wires and the Ignition Module. No change. I suspect the opti-spark of course, but that is a pain in the ass. I have a scanner, which again shows no codes, but when I started the car with the scanner connected I saw that the O2 sensor readings were jumping all over the place, from 90's to over 1000 in a second and then back again. Don't know if thats normal and the computer just uses the average, or what? If replacing the sensors doesn't fix it, I'll probably go ahead and swap the opti-spark. Has anyone tried an aftermarket opti?

FormulaLT1
06-14-2006, 01:51 PM
O2's are suppose to be jumping around. If they start standing still, you know they are no good. I would also check your fuel pressure before you do the opti though. Also, I hear good things about the MSD unit although I have a stock opti on my car,.

crank182
06-18-2006, 09:29 PM
Is your car knocking when it is under load? I had a similar problem with mine. It changed a whole bunch of stuff and couldn't figure it out. I took it to an awesome mechanic and he had a complete scanning system. It ended up being the MAF sensor. It was brand new because the old one was broken but it had packing grease on it causing it to run lean. The O2 sensors were all over the place and the computer ended up advancing the timing a whole lot. He said that K+N airfilters can also leave an oily residue on the connectors of the MAF and it is a pretty common problem when using them. A little electrical connector cleaner did the trick and it was fixed in a few minutes. I never thought of that but it was that simple. Don't use break cleaner or anything like that on the MAF because it will most likely fry those little sensors. Hope this helps.

FormulaForce
06-19-2006, 12:01 PM
I'll try anything if it means I don't have to replace the opti-spark. I have 2spare MAFs so i'll clean the connections and plug one in. I would think there would be a code generated from that though. Thanks

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