I spoke with my friend at the dealership and he said they can do it IF they have the tumblers, if not any locksmith should be able to do it.

There is a good locksmith in our town so looks like that will be my best bet. Now, time to mess with it.......

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Yes. Sometimes I walk up and it just so happens to fall in the right spot and it's no trouble. Other times I have to fight with it, but once it does turn it's never particularly stiff. I really don't believe it is key wear either because the passenger side doesn't give me this trouble, and well, if you saw the pattern on my key you would understand. I will try a different key just in case.

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Ugh, don't like that at all. The price isn't bad but having 3 keys would bug me. A close friend of mine is a tech at the dealership, I'll ask him if he can repin a GM cylinder.

The mechanism seems to work just fine when everything lines up, it's just the issue of getting everything lined up.

Andy, when you got new stuff were you able to key it to your existing key? Center console and glove box locks work fine, it's really only the driver side. Be a shame to have to replace everything.

So, what can be done about the door locks that are touchy?

Sometimes I can insert the key and immediately unlock the doors. Other times it seems like I get to play the "move the key in and out by thousandths of an inch until everything lines up" game for 5 minutes before I can unlock the door

Driver side is significantly worse than passenger side, no doubt just from wear. Is there anything that can be done short of replacing the whole cylinder?

I converted to the second generation opti around 2001, 2002ish. Once upon a time I bought the vacuum harness and never got around to installing it, it's long misplaced by now.

The distributor has taken a lot of punishment over the years. Countless track passes and dyno pulls as well as being an all weather daily driver for many of those years.

You know I converted to the vented style because it was cheaper and allowed better timing chain options but I never bothered to hook up the venting, also never even bothered to cap off the vacuum ports. There was absolutely no trash in the high voltage side, just wear from many miles.

When I get around to cleaning up the garage I'll take a look at the optical side and see how bad it is. I did at least put vacuum caps over the ports on the MSD.

I agree, Andy. Looking at what was left of my cap / rotor, I know it was the root of my misfire problem originally.

I have always felt the part had a pretty bad reputation and most of it wasn't deserved. I swear people will blame a flat tire on the Opti.

It never set a code.

This is one of my typical really long posts, so only read it if you're really bored.

So after owning the car for 14 years I finally had to do an optispark. I have replaced the unit before, back when I did all of my mods I converted to the new style, but I had never had to replace one on my car because it was bad. Some would say that for 7 years as a daily driver and some 70k miles this is a miracle, but I digress.

Anyway one day about a year ago I was driving the car and it just died for no apparent reason. I was able to drift it into a driveway and it eventually restarted. I blamed it on a potential slug of water from ethanol separation, it ran fine ever since.

About a month or so ago I got in the car and had a crank / no start condition. I pulled the plug wire and realized I was getting no spark. The coil wire and coil terminal didn't look like they were in great shape so I tried to clean them up as much as possible. I still got no spark, there were several possible reasons for this:

1. Bad MSD box
2. Bad Coil
3. Bad Ignition Module
4. Bad Opti
5. No signal from Opti

I first bypassed the MSD box and that didn't help. This didn't mean the MSD box was any good, but it did mean that if it was bad, it wasn't the only problem. I got out my old laptop so I could data log and see if I was getting an RPM signal while cranking. While playing with that I noticed that not only was I getting an RPM signal, suddenly I heard the coil arcing while I was cranking on it. Apparently it finally found a way through the corrosion. Leaving the MSD box bypassed I connected the plug wire and the car started right up. It seemed to run OK but it had a horrible misfire at 5500+ that it didn't have the last time I drove it.

This got me to thinking that maybe the coil / wire corrosion issue was the problem all along. Afterall the coil wire did look REALLY bad. I also thought that maybe the MSD box, with it's higher power spark, may have been masking the problem for a while until it finally corroded to the point where it couldn't fire.

All of my plug wires were MSD and looked in good shape except for the coil wire. I can't remember why but I had to replace it many years ago with a parts store junker. I decided the cheapest way to go would be to try a new coil wire. I bought a cheap set of coil wires. I cleaned up the terminal on the coil. It seemed a little better but still not great. I knew my plugs, although several years old, had less than 10k miles on them so they should be fine. At this point I was back to the optispark, but the high voltage side, not the logical side.

Although I wasn't particularly happy about this, I really can't complain. I saw what lots of miles with an MSD box did to my spark plugs, I knew the opti had just as many miles on it. Honestly it has taken a LOT of abuse, it's due. Afterall, aside from the optical pickup, it has a cap and rotor just like any other distributor. So I started pricing options.

First I contacted my friend who works at the dealership to see his cost. HOLY SHIT! His cost is now $400 with a $50 core. They used to be less than $300 with no core charge. This means that not only is the cost crazy high, even the "OEM" ones are now reman units with a 1 year warranty.

I didn't really like that option so I started looking at other options. I looked and most of the parts stores carry Cardone remans for about $130 with a lifetime warrant. I felt confident I didn't really need a whole unit so I looked at caps and rotors. The cap and rotor cost $140 with a 1 year warranty?!?!?

I also looked at the MSD pro-billet opti. I remember from years past that these had problems and were also $400+ so that wasn't the greatest choice. Looks like my only viable option was the parts store reman. I know in years past this was unthinkable, but my friend Brian had recently used one on his car and it worked just fine.

So, $130 for the opti, $50 for a core, a set of water pump gaskets, and 2 jugs of dexcool later I set about the project. With my friend's help we started last Saturday morning on the tedious task. I made it a point to pull the cap and rotor off the old opti to take a look and convinced myself that it was indeed badly worn and was very likely the root of my high RPM misfire.

Everything went as well as can be expected for such a tedious job and after about 6 hours we had it buttoned up. We were extra careful to triple check the plug wires on the opti because once it was put back together there would be no easy way to change them if we had one swapped. When I first went to start the car, it didn't really want to. It started to spin pretty quick but that first compression stroke stopped it dead. Odd, but the battery had taken some abuse and we did run it for quite a while using the electric water pump to purge the cooling system, so maybe it was weak. I tried a couple more times and eventually got it to fire. It seemed to idle a bit rough but I thought it might settle out, afterall it had been sitting for a while and my gas was pretty crappy, probably had phase separated as well.

My friend and I took off down the street and it was immediately apparent that something was obviously wrong. The car felt like it was missing like crazy and even the slightest load resulted in horrible pinging. This whole problem started with just a high RPM misfire so the problem was definitely worse. We had reconnected the MSD box, so we thought it might be possible that was the problem even though we knew it wasn't. I limped it to a gas station. I bought a bottle of HEET to help remove any water from separated ethanol and topped off the tank with 17 gallons of fresh 93 octane from Shell while my friend popped the hood and bypassed the MSD.

The car still didn't want to start and when it did, still ran like crap. We knew that the new optispark was to blame but just to eliminate every possible other problem we went by a parts store and bought a new coil and ignition module. We went home, swapped those parts, and low and behold it runs just the same. Defeated for the day I said screw it, I could feel the tickle in my throat getting worse anyway.

The trouble now was, I knew I needed to replace the opti, but if I was going to do this job again, I didn't want to have to do it a third time by gambling on another reman unit. OEM would be a no brainer except they are remans too. If I'm going to buy a reman I have a hard time justifying $400+ for it! So we started looking a little deeper into the MSD. What we learned was that although the early MSD units were indeed plagued with problems of bearing failure and rotors flying off, MSD has resolved the issue. Several people on the Camaro boards are spinning them to 8000+ with no trouble. I've always liked MSD and had no trouble with them (I know you don't like them Andy) but I decided to give them a shot. I figured if I am gonna be forced to spend $400+, it might as well be on something that is supposedly improved.

While I was ordering I also decided that although my plug wires were OK, they were about 8 years old and I wanted the coil wire to match. I COULD use the parts store wires I had, but I really don't like those. I've always run MSD wires but several years back they changed the Corvette set slightly. They used to have all 90* boots but they changed them to have a few that weren't. Although this was great for factory manifolds, it caused issues with my headers. The Camaro set included longer wires and all 90* boots, but the coil wire is too short because the Camaro has the coil on the opposite side. I know several people on that other forum which shall remain nameless swear by Taylor wires, so I started to look at them. I saw they had the "new" Thundervolt 50 wires. They are supposed to have the same low resistance as MSD but an even thicker insulating jacket, 10.4mm compared to MSD's 8.5mm. They also listed having two 180* boots, but I figured what the hell, I'll give them a shot.

The next day I got hit with the worst of what had to be the flu. I didn't move for 6 hours straight. Turns out my friend who helped me all day Saturday got sick too

Anyway, about mid week the magic brown truck arrived with the summit racing box. I opened it up and couldn't have been happier with what I found. The Taylor wires are HUGE, making even the MSD wires look like a joke by comparison. Despite their size they are also very flexible. I got out the old ohm meter and checked them out, sure enough they have a resistance right on par with MSD. I knew that if I could route them without touching the headers they would be awesome. Then I turned to the plain white box that simply said MSD Pro-Billet. I opened up the box and it was beautiful. The billet base is a work of art, putting the cheap pot-metal OEM piece to shame. The cap is beautiful with the MSD logo and an extra screw holding it down to provide for better sealing than the factory unit. The pigtail is permanently attached via a nice weatherproof grommet, eliminating another point of failure for the OEM unit. There is a timing adjustment screw that I will not really use because I can tune the computer, but it is large enough to not break and firm enough to not vibrate loose during operation. I removed the cover and made sure that the rotor was secure and the screws tight. I gave it a spin and it felt like a top quality bearing. I put the cap back on it and read over the instructions. They claimed it should be shipped at "0" adjustment on the timing but told how many turns it would take to get there from the fully tightened position. Wanting to leave nothing to chance I double checked this adjustment and found that they had indeed shipped it exactly where they said they did.

Saturday I set about with my new opti, plug wires, new plugs, and yet another set of water pump gaskets and even more coolant. Working alone this time and with my dad's borrowed Kerosene heater I set about the task. I knew the plugs weren't worn out, but with the severe pinging I wanted to inspect them for damage, so why put the old plugs back in? Afterall they would be the only remaining part of an otherwise brand new ignition system.

I made pretty good time, starting around 8am I was done by 3pm. Plug wire routing of the Taylor wires turned out to be no problem at all. After some time at the kitchen sink with some industrial strength Dawn I was ready to sit in the car and give it a shot. I knew from the instant I cranked it over that it was right this time. The battery had no trouble turning it over and it fired immediately and purred like a kitten. I took it for a spin and after letting it warm up decided to pound on it a little. 6500 RPM without the slightest hiccup? NO PROBLEM! The proverbial bat out of hell was back, and finally, after doing a pain in the ass job twice, everything is right with my soul again.

Only time will tell if the MSD Opti is worth a damn, but I really don't foresee any problems with it. My gut tells me it is a quality piece, and my gut is usually right.

Thinking about it I have determined that the hard starting was caused by the same issue as the pinging. Somehow, some way, this POS reman has the timing absurdly advanced. This morning I get to take on the real fun challenge, taking the part store POS back for a refund. They better not argue or they're gonna get one hell of a piece of my mind. They really owe me 6 hours of labor, two jugs of dexcool, and a set of water pump gaskets as well, but I know better than to think I'll get any of that. Why doesn't anybody take pride in their workmanship anymore?

Got the heat blanket this morning and installed it. Works like a champ! The old 4.9 still sounds like an old diesel when it cranks, but that's just the nature of the beast.

All the connections are clean and tight. Gonna get a heat "blanket" this morning and see if that helps. The powermaster in question is actually the one I need specific to my truck so should be good if I have to go that route.

I wouldn't think the problem would be with a dying starter because it has never given a problem before (granted it just sat for a year) but now works perfectly every time when cold. It seems to certainly be heat related and it has to be enough heat. Drive it 2 miles, cranks a little slow. Drive it 10 miles at highway speed, won't spin fast enough to start.

As far as the solenoid goes, it's the super cool Ford design that uses 2. It has the fender mounted one and the one on the starter. Seems like this is already what we want right?

I don't know that anybody explicitly makes a mini starter for it. There's not a huge aftermarket for the 300 six. If it came to replacing the whole starter I think I would try my neighbor's powermaster. I'm sure he'd let me try it, and he worked there long enough to know which models can handle heat soak and which can't.

After having it torn down for a year, I finally got my '95 F-150 with the 4.9L inline six back up and running.

I have installed a header which I had ceramic coated to both help with heat and hopefully make it last longer. I'll start out by saying that my battery is no doubt on it's last legs. It's an Advance Auto Parts Silver (which if I was to buy today would only have a 2 year warranty) that is 10 years, 3 months old. Frankly I was stunned that it charged up at all, but it did and it will start the truck.

When the truck is relatively cold, the starter will crank over the old 300 seemingly as fast as it ever has. If you've ever owned one of these long stroke beasts, you know what I'm talking about. It starts right away every time. If I shut it down immediately I can start it again and again no trouble. This makes me think that, although the battery is not the best, it's not my problem.

After I drive a while and park the truck, if I immediately try to restart it, it will crank extremely slowly, which may or may not be fast enough to start the truck. The only thing that really makes sense is that it's heat soaking the starter. A battery in better condition might make it better but I think that would probably only be masking the problem. A couple of the local parts stores have starter heat shield wraps in stock, I hope to pick one up tomorrow and see if that helps, I think it should.

On the off chance that it doesn't, what are the other options? How have you dealt with a heat soaked starter?
I figure worst case, my neighbor used to work for powermaster, and he has one of their really awesome starters that should work on my truck. He said he'd sell it for a good price and it is basically immune to heat soak, but even his good price is more than I would really like to spend on it right now!

I've had ceramic coated long tubes on my vette for 12 years and have never had the first heat soak problem. I'd say the headers just aren't as close and the nippodenso gear reduction starter may just be more forgiving.

Thoughts?

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At this point, TIME. I am working nights and going to class during the day. I would like to fix it the first time so if I could test it without having to try something, then drive, try something, then drive, etc. it would be better!

Any reason behind that logic? I never removed or otherwise disturbed the switch on the pedal whereas I had to take the canister off and move it.

Better compression, better valve springs. There was a minor cam change from 92 to 96 but doubt it would make that much difference.

Would have been interesting to see dyno / compression / and leakdown test comparisons between them.

Is there any way to test the cruise control without taking the car for a drive, or jacking it up so the rear wheels aren't on the ground?

Ever since I replaced my brake booster, my cruise has stopped working. The electrical connections look good and the throttle cable is attached. The vacuum lines are attached but they may have seen better days.

I don't see any damage to the actuator itself. Currently my best guess is that I damaged one of the vacuum lines when I replaced the brake booster. Of course I can just replace the vacuum lines but I would love to be able to test the actuator.

I let a friend borrow my FSM so I can't look it up on my own.

Suggestions?

Thanks for the tip. As you can probably figure out, I want to do this job about as much as I'd like to take a kick in the crotch.

Seems like I moved a lot better when I bought the car 12 years ago.

Then impale my spine on the driver's side seat bolt.....

Awesome. I was going to look at that but it seems the link to the tech library is broken, not so awesome.

I figure it's not too bad... remove the body side panel and the battery, possibly the ECM. Remove the driver's side dash panel, break your spine trying to bend over the hump backwards, etc, etc.

Booster arrived at the dealership this morning. I'll pick it up either today or tomorrow depending on how long my last class takes.

My friend is able to get me the AC Delco unit for $310 so I told him to go ahead and order it. If it were a little easier to change I might consider a reman, but for this particular part I think OEM is best. If I can get another 21 years out of it I'll be happy!

I'll definitely be putting some heat wrap on it. It can't hurt but I'm willing to bet this wasn't a heat related failure. I've only been running long tube headers for about 11 years! I guess that ceramic coating really works.

I did ask, but unfortunately my friend did not find a listing for a self installing brake booster.

Yeah tell me about it. I don't have any experience explaining very technical things in plain English.........

I'm more qualified, due to experience, than most people who graduate with a CS degree, but nobody who looks at my resume reads beyond "Interdisciplinary Studies" degree.

I really don't expect any major challenges. At least by already having the BS in IS, I don't have to take all the gen ed garbage. The only "non CS" class I have to take is ENG 307, technical writing. English classes are always a pain in the ass, but not exactly anything that's gonna be hard.

I didn't have time to dig out my vacuum pump but I did pull the check valve out of the booster. I can suck through it and not blow through it, so I'd say it's good. The hose didn't have any obvious cracks or holes in it. I just left it out and capped off the vacuum port on the intake. The startup RPM's are where they are supposed to be now.

I'd say that makes it fairly definitive that it's the booster.

A good friend of mine works at the local chevy dealer, he's off today but he's gonna check tomorrow to see what his cost is.

The only other non-cardone I have found is the NAPA brand. Anybody have any experience with them?

Computer Science.

I can always drive my F-100, but being a long bed, it's not so great in the super tight parking spaces on campus. Vette gets better mileage too, so I try to drive it on nice days.

Exhaust leak that required exploratory surgery to find. Found it but didn't have $$ to fix it. I have the parts now but it's been too cold. Also going back to school for a second degree so my time is limited.

I started my car this morning and noticed it seemed to hit a higher idle than normal for a few seconds before it settled down. As I backed out of my garage I soon found out why, my power brakes are gone!

I popped the hood and checked the vacuum hose, it's still connected although I can't rule out a crack in it somewhere. I'll have to check it all over with a vacuum gauge when I get home, but I'm afraid that my 21 year old brake booster has just given up the ghost.

I vaguely remember people saying that the parts store boosters are crap, and they go out fairly quickly. My local parts stores offer Cardone brand, which carries a lifetime warranty. Are they really completely junk?

Does anybody know of a metal booster for these cars? Mine is a '92. Also any tips and tricks for replacement? Looks like a PITA.

Thanks in advance!

Just one more thing for the "when I get around to it" list. My F-150 is in a dozen pieces in my garage right now, it may need to take priority, although nothing is getting done now, when the weather cooperates I don't have time to do it!

My power locks seem to be extremely sluggish when cold. The first thought would be battery voltage but this is not the issue. Even at 15 volts the power locks are "sticky." They work just fine on a warm day. I can feel the stiffness if I try to manually actuate the lock as well.

This leads me to believe that whatever lubrication may exist in the lock mechanism is simply increasing in viscosity in the cold leading to the problems. I would be happy to clean everything and use a lubricant that is much more stable at temperature extremes. My question is, where to start?

Any tips or tricks would be appreciated.

The opti-spark is the root of all evil.

Oh its a great engine just a lousy manifold design. Gonna try and make the EFI live happily with the header, if that doesn't work I'll go with a carb. The whole point though is to gain my economy back, mpg has fallen 3mpg in 6 years. I can hear the exhuast leak so I think it is just tricking it into running too rich.

I would like to find the moron who thought it was a good idea to use torx bolts to hold in the rear bearings.

I think my right front wheel bearing is still original... 114k isn't too bad.

I was hunting for an exhaust leak on my '95 F-150. It has to be upstream of the O2 somewhere because it has caused the gas mileage to drop in the toilet. It's a 300 inline six so the intake and exhaust bolt down together. I got the intake and exhaust manifold off and UGH...



That may be my exhaust leak on the #4 port, but look at the disgusting intake ports. This is what happens with crankcase vapors and EGR gasses combine in a "dry" intake. It's a fuel injected engine but the way the injector is situated it sprays directly over the top of these deposits with no way to clean them.

Just cleaning these out should gain me about 10 HP back. It's got 198k on the clock. I expected to find that kind of sludge under the valvecover but it's actually remarkably clean, as is the inside of the pan. I guess the PCV is working, perhaps a little too well! It's gonna be going back with a header and I think I'll be putting a catch can on the PCV to see if I can keep this from happening again.

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It depends on where your sensors are in your headers. Mine are down in the collector and they could cool off with excessive idling. This would cause it to run really rich until the computer would realize it and drop out of closed loop. New heated sensors took care of the problem.

I used the fuel pump enable wire from the ECM to trigger a relay to power them. I like this because it is only on when the engine is running therefore the sensors aren't being heated in just the ON or ACC position.

It will make a big difference in the ability to tune it accurately.

Left front wheel speed sensor problem is what it supposedly means. As you said the sensor is in the bearing / hub assembly. I had replaced that about 6 months or so ago and the new part is a Timken so I would hope it's not bad. I cleared the code and drove it home with no problems and the code did not come back. I feel like it was just one of those occasional little flukes that are bound to happen on a 20 year old car.

Thanks all for the information. It would figure that my FSM sits on the shelf gathering dust for probably 6 years and the one time I need it I've loaned it out to a friend.

Yeah those codes could have been there for years. They certainly weren't current. I don't think the ABS code is anything more than a fluke either. Just kinda made me wonder since I had just replaced the calipers and flushed the whole system. Kinda a "you gotta be kidding" moment.

Looks like error 25, well H25 since the car wasn't running. I just replaced that whole bearing hub less than 6 months ago. Maybe it's just a fluke. I'll have to keep an eye on it when I drive it home tonight and see if it comes back.

Remind me again what module 4 is? I got an H22 and H72 out of it as well.

I let a friend borrow my FSM or I would just look it up. Got a service ABS light today. Which pins do I jump and what buttons do I press to get the brake codes? It's a 92.

Yeah that really doesn't sound like an opti related problem. The device is very mis-understood and all too often blamed / replaced when it is not the issue.

Ultimately the opti is a glorified distributor. Sure it's a flat goofy looking distributor but it's a distributor just the same with a cap and rotor. Generally this part of it either works or it doesn't, just like any other distributor. Even if it's badly worn you'll get a misfire, not an on/off style failure, but it won't set a code.

The other half of the distributor, the side that supposedly causes so much trouble, is the optical pickup. It's actually extremely reliable and accurate as well provided you don't get it wet. The opti just happens to be located where it can get wet. It's not a bad idea for a design, rather just a poor location. When this side fails you can get all kinds of things, you can get misfires and or no start conditions but it likely will set a code because the ECM is actively looking for the data it provides.

So as others have mentioned, check the codes. If you get an opti-spark high or low res pulse failure then MAYBE the opti is at fault. If you do NOT get this code then it is very likely not the opti that's the problem.

If I had a lot of money I would like to start a website called "www.itsnottheoptisparkthatcausedyourcartoquit.com"

A lot of dim-wit mechanics have heard so many opti-spark horror stories that they'll blame a flat tire on them. If I had a dollar for every mis-diagnosed opti-spark problem I'd be making money in a very unusual way.

I'll be curious to see what type of power you make with that cam on a 383. I love the cam on my 350 although it does give up a little bit of low end, it's still pulling hard to 6500. The stroker should gain back the low end, if the cam / heads can flow enough up top it should be awesome.

Actually YES the cam can hit the rods depending on your cam and rod choice. You may have to get what is called a small base circle cam. Rotate the cam until it stops and mark it's position. Then rotate the crank slightly and see if it changes how far you can turn the cam. Bet it does.

BTW it's possible that if the cam and bottom end are turning together that it won't hit. Just have to put the timing chain on it and slowly turn it over and see what you get.

Even if the plastic is snug sometimes the connectors don't make up though. But if it doesn't work with the meter then it's not gonna work in the car.

Sounds about right.

It's not THAT hard to do with the engine in the car. I've done it several times. In my case I didn't have a good way or place to pull the engine so it would have been more trouble than it was worth. You have to examine your situation and see which is easier for you.

Cool, just wanted to verify that the new dead sensor really is dead. Since the old one actually works that pointed towards a connection problem. Electrical gremlins are maddening, wanted to make sure there wasn't one there.

Sounds like you need to thoroughly clean your connections and tighten them if at all possible and then put it back together with some dielectric grease to prevent corrosion. What does the brand new "dead" sensor do with your ohm meter?

My dad always said he's not worried about what's turning gray, he's worried about what's turning loose. I know where he's coming from.

You'll likely find that it's bad, but it never hurts to test. On the off chance the sensor is good maybe you can run that down and save yourself some headache and pulling out of your hair. I know I don't have much left to pull out anymore.

Just for shits and giggles have you tried to test one of the sending units with an ohm meter? The resistance should change dramatically with temperature. Test it pretty much the same way you would test a thermostat. Drop it in boiling water and test the resistance across the terminals and watch it continue to change as the sensor returns to ambient.

Have you considered the possibility that there might be something causing it to fail?

Granted I don't know what that would be, but a sensor such as that with no moving parts should work for years and years no matter who makes it.

Don't get me wrong, I hate crappy parts as much as the next guy but in my experience if you have repeated failure of the same part, it's usually not the part to blame.

Maybe something like corroded or flaky contacts on the wiring harness side? Perhaps when you plug in a new sensor it "cleans" the contacts slightly so it makes up good for a while and then corrodes back up?

I ripped a brand new opti off of my car once because the pigtail that goes between the opti and the main harness had corroded up. The pigtail was brand new as well and had never been wet but it was sure messed up.