hi im new to the forums. i have a 94 Z28 and it will not start. it will turn over and over and i smell it flooding. is this the distributor? any help is greatly appreciated

 

Are you getting a spark?

 

see thats the thing. im not sure. i havent checked it yet. but i know im getting fuel... i can hear the pump working, i just replaced the filter, and i smell gas when i try to start it. these distributors are known to have problems i thought, or could it possibly be the cap and/or rotor? coil? plugs and wires are brand new... thanks for any replies

 

I would try the cheap stuff before going after the distributor. Ignition coil & ignition module first. Also check all the wires and connectors between the distributor, ignition module, and coil. They get corroded with age and the components stop talkin to each other. IMO changing coil & rotor on an optispark is a waste of time because there is abunch of electronics iside that can go bad and usually do. Change the whole thing, either a stock GM unit or a supposedly better unit from MSD.

 

You have to check for spark. Pull one of the wires and have a friend crank it over while you stick your finger in the spark plug boot. If he cranks the car over and you feel nothing the ignition is shot.
Just kidding. They sell a little tool that is made just for checking for spark. Its worth it to add this to your collection of tools and should cost less than $10.00. DO-NOT stick your finger in the spark plug boot and be careful not to get zapped when testing. This ingition will set you on your butt should you take a solid poke.

Also check the flow of the fuel filter. Ensure you did not put it in backwards.

What did you gap the plugs at? Did you check for oil saturated wires or distributor? Even if you have new wires an oil leak can ruien them in under a week due to saturation.

 

yea im not sure that i have an oil leak, but before, when it would start, it had a BAD miss below 2000 rpms and ran like crap when i washed the car or even hit a puddle of water too hard.. thyis makes me think its the cap getting wet but im just not sure

 

Optispark hates water, replace the whole unit.

 

is it worth getting an msd? if so how much for the opti? i know how to put it on there, because i just put one on not too long ago.. not very fun. but it sounds like the opti thats causing this? wait, when you say "whole unit", do you mean cap and rotor? im sorry im kinda confused..

 

The entire distributor, cap, rotor, & housing. There is a bunch of electronic stuff in the distriburor that feeds timing data back to the PCM. The electronics get corroded and the whole distributor is useless. MSD claims their distributor is better, but we need to wait a few years to see if it is really true.

 

get the msd dist it is buletproof and a lot better internals