I love Opti-Spark

I have a problem. Under 2000 or so RPM's anything over 25% throttole i get a loud tapping. It sound like the engine is going to throw a rod through the block, and its not just a tap tap tap. It sounds like its comming from 2 or 3 cylnders. And its developed a huge miss also. My friend said it was the cap and rotor of the opti wearing out. And that the spark is jumping from one post to another inside it. Causing the plug to fire when the intake valve is still open. Anyone ever have this problem (180k on the motor) its a 94 Z28, auto

I have noooo idea about how the opti spark works, but one of my friends had a 94 Z28, and he had troubles every month it seemed like wiht his Opti, but now he has a 98 TA with the LS1....but thats just what i know....So it probably is the Opti...atleast what small amout of experience i have had with them

Sounds like opti to me, id also check your water pump to see if its leaking and causing the failure of the optispark distributor.

Ive replaced the actual Opti-spark before.. I dont know if the Cap and rotor part of it has ever been serviced. As for the water pump.. No it hasnt leaked.. but a cap and rotor is about 250-300 bucks!.. so i dont want to replace it and have it be a terminal engine problem

also i am kinda jumping the gun, have you had the car scanned for codes??? or had a tech 2 hooked upto it for realtime data logging while its acting up??? doing these two things will probly allow you to narrow it down to a particular aspect of the vehicle.

already tried... no codes .. nothing out of the ordinary. He said it sounds like a stuck lifter... but he was confused by how it wasnt acting weird... like.. erratic.. but he said that it was WAYYYY to loud to be a lifter alone..

opti would would set a code. It would say its not picking up the 4 pulse per revolution and set code 16. If it s not setting this it could still be a opti but most likely it isn't.

well, if youve taken all the technology routes, i guess the answer is to actually pull it apart and visually inspect all the parts for some sort of evidence of damage and go from there.