Cleaned up the engine bay and fender well areas a bit and some overspray (water) must have reached the front of the engine. I took it for a drive immediately following and it ran great but a few hours later..... runs like crap. An intermittent light clunk or pop from the front of engine, backfire from the exhaust when applying any throttle and fairly hard to start. Oh, no SES light.

Is this the opti?? And would I be able to tell by removing and inspecting it? I didn't touch plug wires etc. (but have pushed and juggled them since it started acting up) Didn't even remove the injector covers.

It sounds like an opti problem, but a little water mist shouldn't have hurt it.

let it dry out for a day or two then try again

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Me or the car???

It would have to be a perfect shot to hurt the opti.

My guess? some moisture in one wire, or, moisture enhancing the failure of one wire.

It is good and dark right now. Go outside and see if there is a light show under the hood.

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Spark plug wire or a 12 volt?

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Still light here but that is on the agenda!

had same type chit happin on kids lt1 trans am..ended up beyun rottin coil wire ..they really git crusted in the opti ..any white crust n a lil moisture will cause hard starts etc.. pull it n have look down down (wire that is) kids broke right off so crusted in...cleaned up replaced wid new n been good

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Yea, first thing to check, as said, at nite. Andy's talkin' plug wires, not the 12v.

And you should check for codes even if the SES isn't on.

A stock opti will take a light mist.

Ok, so last night I cranked up the Billy Thorpe (Children of the Sun), started the engine with hopes of an amazing light show..... nothing. Just a poorly running LT1. Picked up new wires this morning then gave the thing one more try before pulling the old wires and it ran fine. Actually seemed to run even better than ever. Guess it did just need to dry out. I'll put the new wires on this weekend anyway.

Codes: Mod 1: H72 & H74. Mod 4: no codes. Mod 9: H28 (would be nice to know which wheel(s).

Thanks for the continuing education guys!

Glad it is OK. However I would wait a little while just in case there is corrosion in the opti. It woulld be a shame to go thru the hassle of new wires just to have the opti crash a few weeks later.

yea n chure wouldnt hurt to carefully pull that coil wire out of opti,,they muck up right there white crusted crap..this causes hard starts evin on rainy days ifn bad enuff..jus takes a minute to check it

Yea, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but its not likely this won't happen again if you did get water in the opti. I just went through this on an Impala.

DG