'83 SC doesn't like to get wet. Common?
 

Brought my '83 SC to the spray-type car wash for it's first bath today (I would prefer to hose and bucket but we have water restricitions). Cleaned up nice, got a "nice car-Sir"comment from one of the Marines walking by.

Guy had to laugh as I went to pull out. I hardly made it home, sputtering, hesitating, stalling (dough!!!).

I managed to get it on the road at mid RPM's and got it dried out via driving. I think it was getting into the coil wire where it connects to the coil. Is the grommet supposed to be sealed to the wire? Mine's not.

Are 911's known to be funky around water? With the hole in the hood you would have to think all your wires and electrical better be sealed well otherwise you would end up like me...

Side note not related to wet vehicle:

Tried pulling vac. advance and retard to check impact on hesitation 900-2000 RPM. No impact, I need to keep looking.

Gordo

I've never had any "running" issues with my SC after washing it, or driving in the rain. Did you spray that high pressured water down the grill hole? Did the dizzy cap get water in it?

I had the same problem---once.

Now I wash the car in my drive when it's stone cold w/ a plastic sheet over the engine and ancillaries. So far I've remembered to remove the sheet before taking her for a "dry off" spin.

I live at the beach. The car is about 10 yards from the high tide mark so I have to hose it down fairly reguarly if I've left it outside the garage.

When I hose it down I actually open the engine lid and hose down the engine as well. Nothing too fancy, I just don't aim the hose at the air cleaner opening, but other that that lots of water everywhere.

After it's hose down it starts fine and hasn't missed a beat (it is an SC ;) ).

If you guys think I'm a crazie bustard hosing down the engine; it's to get the sand out and to get the fine dusting of salt off everything.

Not common, So what's the problem?
 

O.K.

Washing the engine sold me... Not a common problem. If that's the case what do you think happened?

My thoughts:

Water in ignition components (but where, and how do I tell).

Water seeping into the injector nozels (old injector seals, again how can I tell?).

By the way it's not running the greatest to begin with. This may be an indicator.

Thanks, Gordo

I used to be have engines (plural) so clean you can use parts of the engines to cook and eat.

I stopped. Why.......?

The Z sputters for 120 miles at acceleration! It would accelerate and decelerate uncontrollaby.

The Supra Turbo shortcircuited the air flow meter. Cost was $750.00 minimum.

Lesson learned....SCREW CLEANLINESS!

By the way, if you have not noticed.....there used to be a trend with people doing business by cleaning engines. They are beginning to be dinosaurs due to problems with electronics.

Now I just wipe parts with rags!

Could be a common problem easily taken care of. check your "air seals" around your plugs...the half dollar sized boots that close the holes to the plug wells. If they are hard and brittle they don't seal the wells anad will allow ater to get into the wells grounding the plugs. I had the same problem till I replaced all the old ones...Would fire on 5 cyl till it got hot and evaporated the water.

I've only owned my SC for about a year and I haven't used a pressure washer on it, but I've never had any problems with the regular washing method (I'm strill waiting for it to rain so I can test that :-)

My bet is the spark plug wires, either on the plugs as previously mentioned, at the cap/rotor, or in between.

If the wires are crap they will arc on to anything, water only makes it worse.

Are your plug wires original? If so it may be time to replace them. I put magnecor wires on mine to replace the OEM wires and that made more difference than anything else I've done to the car.

My '86 Carrera does the same thing. Washing it with a garden hose in the driveway leaves it sputtering for the better part of a couple of hours. After that it runs like a champ. I haven't been able to see where anything is getting wet but I'll check the suggested areas above. On a side note, rain doesn't seem to have any effect. At least light rain doesn't. Haven't been in any downpours lately.

If you're experiencing missing and sputtering after washing the car or driving in the rain or even when humidity is really high, read low fog. Replace your ignition wires. My Carrera started doing that, first time after cleaning the engine. Then started doing it more often, just washing the car or driving in the rain. I replace my ignition wires and haven't had a problem since, under any circumstances. A friend told me he first discovered that with his early 911S when he opened the engine cover on a totally dark road with no street lights. Said looked like a light show. Those wires live in a very harsh environment, time takes its toll on them.

that's my .02 :D

I have a 77 930, if I drive mine went the Tach stop working. Once it dries out I have to turn the car off then back on.

I assume its an electrical issue. Ill add this to the list of thing to hunt.

I can understand Carreras doing this, but not an SC! Seriously I think we gert about a thousand inches of rain here weekly, at least during the winter, so if my '83 had trouble with water....well....she wouldn't like the Pacific Northwest. But she definitely does like it here.

She has fresh plug wires and her cap and rotor are in good shape. In my experiences, the problem you described is most often caused by water inside the distributor cap. If it happens again, dry the inside of the cap thoroughly with a very dry rag. It also might help to place a thin coating of silicon grease on the edge of the cap, where it mates with the distributor body.

BTW, my '83 has not missed even though I wash the car once a week. I just do not wash the engine. And yes, the engine gets wet.

I have only had one episode where water caused the motor to stumble. And this is with countless days of driving in the rain and hundres of car washings.

But what about the entry of water for cars that removed the AC condensor and OEM deck lid grill? I recently did this and am a little concerned since when I look down the screen in the tail I can plainly see the motor, ignition wires and all. Anyone experience problems with removing these items.

I think it is just loose connections...I read somewhere this is common...

make sure the protective rubber or plastic caps are secure on all the connections...coil...wires...cap...and to the CDI box...

I've heard spraying some WD-40 in the cap can help...but wait till someone confirms that statement...I am trying to think where I read that...but I can't remember

but the main point is that it is not uncommon, I'm 100% sure I've read somewhere that this can and does happen...

MJ

Here's how I got rid of my wet engine sputter: got a spray water bottle, started the engine, turned the lights out in the garage, sprayed water on the dist cap and ignition wires etc, watched the light show.

In my case, I had a short at #6 distributor wire connector and a frayed ignition wire arcing on the fan housing.

Joe
86 3.2

Attempted Remedy
 

Decided to try di-electric grease.

Put a little coat around each plug wire connection to the distributor and also around the coil. Will follow up next time I wash to see if it fixed the problem.

Doubt it will. I did the night look at my wires tonight. Sparks up and down the braided steel lines (ouch, new wire set likely). Posting this topic on another thread.

Thanks folks.

Gordo