^^^ agree you dont need to take the front cover off to replace the seals. taklng the pan off is not an easy task. if the air side of the vent is plugged a vacuum would be in place in the opti and it could suck in through the o ring seal on the cap if it were installed incorrectly.

 

My lines from the opti are full of oil after my little stunt. Doh! So I looked at the "T" fitting where the opti and egr lines meet. It is dry. The previous owner gave me all the parts he removed, I was looking at the original opti and it has a seal back there. The MSD doesn't. Was this supposed to be swapped over to the MSD? When I raised the lift today I was amazed at how much oil had come out of the opti hole. There's always been enough oil on the front of the motor to justify new gaskets, but not enough to leak on the driveway. I agree with you about not taking the timingchain cover/oil pan off. I'm not sure what to do next, but it would seem to me there shouldn't be any oil coming out of that hole unless there's a seal between it and the opti? I'll try to post pictures of the difference.

 

the stock opti has a coupler and the msd does not. the seal for the opti itself is inside the housing. the seal for the shaft is in the front cover. where does the air intake hose from the opti connect to?

 

It hooks on the left side of the upper intake plenium, (Same as the egr) from there to the opti and then back to the elbow infront of the TB.

Thinking about it now the first test I did was blow in it with my mouth. There was no oil in either tube or on the check valve. I'll take the hose barb of the intake and see if there is any oil in there. Can you replace the front camshaft seal without taking the cover off?

 

yes you can. i would recomend you change all three seals on that front cover. hardest one is the water pump seal. likes to roll over and tear the seal when you install over the shaft.

 

I took a look at the barb. It's dry. I'll try replacing the seals.

 

Below is a picture of how I piped my MSD venting in (the white tee in the middle), sounds like that's how you have yours. You can't see the hose on my intake plenum tho.
And here is a write up for replacing the water pump seal from when I did mine, the opti seal is different and easy to do. https://camaroforums.com/forum/lt1-lt4-tech-9/installing-water-pump-drive-seal-43601/
And as craby said, the MSD shaft is part of the opti, the original had a removable shaft stub. But still, even if one of those timing cover seals is leaking, it won't leak directly into the opti, but could leak onto it. Was the outside of your opti, like around the cap and body seal, covered in oil?

 

You have one more line than me but that is the same place mine is hooked to the motor.

 

I replaced the seals and cleaned the opti but the results are the same. I can't get the spark past the cap an rotor. The coil is firing like an arc welder, a super bright blue spark. Using an ohm meter I checked the cap all eight cylinders, coil connection, rotor and plug wires everything is ok. Plugs are new. Any thoughts?

 

i would replace the opti.