So i replaced my optispark today. my question is when i took off the old unit i turned it upside down where the flat plug with 4 wires was facing the ground and oil came out of it. Any ideas what that is from? guess that was the main prob with the unit in the first place. thanks

 

what yr car? did u replace any of the seals in the front cover?

 

its a 95 lt1. i didnt replace any seals .

 

u have a vented opti so i would say either the seal in the opti was leaking oil into itself or the cap had oil leaking onto it and it found its way through the gasket. theres a water pump seal that can leak down onto the opti. did it look like there was a trail there? otherwise check the front intake gasket/seal its a place it also comes from. should be a trail to the source if it came from an outside area. u dont by chance have oil in the intake?

 

i didnt notice any coolant leaking from the water pump or the weep hole on the bottom. the only thing that i did notice is the the front pan that covers the timing chain had some loose bolts so i did go ahead and tighten them . it looks like the oil might be coming from above that anyway like from the intake. not sure if there is any oil in the intake or not. the intake only supposed to have coolant in it right?. somthing else i noticed is there was a lil creamy color on the oil fill cap like the water and oil mixing. couldnt see it on the dipstick though.

 

no there is no water in the lt1 intake manifold. yes there is oil under it and yes they are known for leaking from the front and back of the intake. my intake was really lose and was leaking oil into the intake ports and out both ends. gaskets were toast. the front and rear intake seals are rvt and if not done near perfect they will fail. gota get a good amout on there so the pressure in the crankcase wont push it out. at the same time dont want to much that it globs all over and runs into the inside the intake. if u look in the picture u can see the rvt bulging out, thats what u want.

 

What is the "it"? The plug opening or the opti itself? The plug receptacle doesn't run through to the inside of the opti. If there was oil in the plug, it would have to have been from an external leak, which also means the ribbed seal on the plug wasn't working. Oil on the terminals could have been enough to cause a misfire and make you think the opti is bad. Also, any time you replace the opti, you want to replace the oil seals on the timing chain cover.