Anyone ever had a opti act up due to a oil leak.? Looks like mine needs a oil pan/timing cover... Msd opti is 3 months old and acting funky. What do you think?

 

it's either the opti or waterpump oil sea which leaked. They come with a timing cover gasket set. And yep, dontcha just love where the engineers decided to put the distributor.

That's why you'll see posts from folks here who say if you are going to replace the opti or waterpump to replace the 2 seals while you are there.

 

What do you mean? The opti is bad or the waterpump is leaking and the the seal will hold up to the oil?? I love my camaro but as a learing mechanical engineer myself, I think the way this was designed was freaking retarted... Seems like it should of been common sense that water oil and electrionics dont mix. Anyway the seals and waterpump had been changed not long before, I was using a junk autozone part then switched to the msd. I probably should not have taken the short cut but time is not something i had... The waterpump isnt leaking. How much will a worn timing chain affect the opti? I sure hope the msd hasn't cooked its self. Anyone know how to ohm test it?

 

did you locktight the screws to the rotor inside the opti. on occation the msd rotor will come lose. be a good time to check to see if your gettting oil inside the opti. i have seen a guy on here with a opti full of oil, the seal in the opti must havr been bad and it got in there some how. its also a good idea to seal up the o ring on the opti with rvt. i put some on the place where the wires go into the opti too just in case there was a way for anything to get in that way.

 

hmmm, the infamous flying rotor. it left my bundle of joy stranded after going only 10 miles on a new GM opti

 

Ok the front main slug crap everywhere looks like it threw up under there. Im taking apart tonight time to change the timing chain anyway. I'll let ya know what i find.

 

no flyin rotor this time. The opti has oil in it and dang bottom vent hose got so soaked that it swelled up and came off. Looks like i found the problem lol question is what now. Wonder what the turn around time is if i send it back to msd to have it checked out.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if MSD doesn't honor a warranty. They usually honor a warranty for material defects or similar. The opti getting soaked in water or oil would not be considered material defects but rather caused by environmental conditions.

And no, I don't work in the MSD warranty department. But I did work in a warranty department at a company that sells and maintain marine electronics for just over a year and we often saw parts returned that failed due to environmental conditions. We never honored those.

But hey, the worst they can say is no.

 

With my luck id say they wont and thats what im expecting. You would think that the seal would keep the oil out of this thing but then again the car really shouldnt of been leaking the way it was. I wish i had a way to tell if the optical sensor was ruined. What's the chance i clean this thing up and it works properly? Is it possible to purchace just the sensor.

 

if the vacuum hose was good and the vent hose was not then you would have a vacuum in the opti to suck the oil in. it may be that you could clean it up with electrical cleaner and it will work dont know. heres a place to look, click on the how to and its 28
4th Gen LT1 F-Body Tech Aids