rain caused misfiring

[sludge1300]

So it rained for like 2 days straight this last weekend. Ever since then my car has been misfiring. Yes, I have Clewett wires and not all the well seals are good. So, water defiinitely could have leaked into a couple of the wells. However, I ran it for over an hour yesterday and it still has problems.

Could it be that there's so much water in one of the wells that it still hasn't all evaporated?

Or could it have corroded the connection to the spark plug?

Could the wires still be wet after three to four days?

Any other ideas?

Thanks.

[sludge1300]

Oh yeah. The inside of the distributor cap is dry.

[rusnak]

Did you pull the distributor cap? If not, loosen the wire holders near the cap, and that will give you enough slack to pull off the cap, turn it over, and check the inside. If you see any water, spray electronic parts cleaner on the cap and rotor, let it dry, and fire it up. It is more likely you have water in the cap than in the wires. If the wires are that bad, then you might consider replacing them.

[rusnak]

ok nevermind, if you checked the underside of the cap where the contacts are.

The only other thing I can think of is to fire it up in the pitch darkness. Look for a lightshow. That will tell you if you have arcing wires.

[tcar]

Wait until it's dark, fire it up, open hood and look for faint blue sparks; spark 'ticking' noises. It will show where short(s) are on bad wires. Even wires that look OK can fail this test.

How old are the wires?

If none, cap is a good culprit. Spray as above. Is the cap cracked?

If none of the above, look for the word 'Lucas' on any parts within 50 yards of your car. Remove them.

[jluetjen]

Pull both ends of the spark plug wires (plus the coil wire) and make sure that they're clean and dry. If they are, put a dollop of Dielectric grease into each plug and reinstall.

Hi voltage will do anything that it can to short to ground. Any moisture or contamination will provide a path for it to do so.

[rnln]

Originally Posted by tcar

...look for the word 'Lucas' on any parts within 50 yards of your car. Remove them.

laught as much as you can, but please tell me what does this mean?
Thanks.

[gtc]

Google "Lucas Prince of Darkness" and you'll find out.

[Jim Garfield]

What year is the car? If it's a 3.2 check the sensor wires under the heater blower on the left side of the engine. I had a similar problem that was caused by deteriorating insulation on the 3 wires. Mine looked ok but when I pulled the wires to check the connections big pieces of the insulation fell off and the wires were very brittle.

[sludge1300]

It's a 3.0. I'll definitely pull the wires and see if the ends are dry.
They are fairly new wires.
cap is fine
It'll be dark soon, so I'll do that check too.

Thanks

[rusnak]

You can add "Fram", "Wagner", "Autolite", and "Carcraft" to that "Lucas" list.

If all else fails, you can check your ground points, battery voltage and connections for cleanliness. There is a chance that it's not related to the water, just Motronic issues.

[sludge1300]

Originally Posted by rusnak

You can add "Fram", "Wagner", "Autolite", and "Carcraft" to that "Lucas" list.

If all else fails, you can check your ground points, battery voltage and connections for cleanliness. There is a chance that it's not related to the water, just Motronic issues.

That would be a crazy coincidence considering how well it ran before the rainstorm. I won't rule it out though.

[rs6er]

On my 3.0 this happened every time it rained. Replaced the wires. Never happened again.

[ZOA NOM]

Search "ZOANAS+Clewett"

[stlrj]

Just because you have Clewett wires, doesn't mean that they are any better than stock Beru wires in the rain. They both seem to have moisture related problems.

[sludge1300]

I'm aware of the problems with the Clewett wires. That's why I mentioned it.

Speaking of which...I checked and there was no arcing. At least that I could see.

I'll pull them tomorrow and check for wetness.

[Mr.Puff]

Fuel drier?

[ZOA NOM]

Originally Posted by stlrj

Just because you have Clewett wires, doesn't mean that they are any better than stock Beru wires in the rain. They both seem to have moisture related problems.

The problem wasn't actually with Clewett's wires, it was with the heat sheath being tucked into the boots. The wires are great.

[sludge1300]

Well I was out of town for a month, now I'm back to face the problem.
Where I'm at now:
New plugs, cap and rotor, wires checked for conductivity; they passed. Still have the same problem.

Fuel issues? Is there anything fuel related that can be caused by rain? Maybe it was just a coincidence.

I put injector cleaner in about 500 miles ago.

[kqw]

Originally Posted by sludge1300

........I put injector cleaner in about 500 miles ago.

Tell me that you had a FULL tank of gas when you put injector cleaner in....If not, that's probably your problem. Go fill up and go for a long drive.