Re: trouble starting in wet weather

["twinenginedmc12" <twinenginedmc12@xxxx>]

Subject Re trouble starting in wet weather

--- In dmcnews@xxxx, "Adam" <acprice1@xxxx> wrote:
> My car has a lot of trouble starting after it has been parked in 
the 
> rain. It eventually starts and idles rough then chugs until I guess 
> the moisture is dissipated. I am assuming that moisture is getting 
> into the distributer. When I do my tune-up, i plan to seal the 
> distributer with high temp silicon sealant and prepare the inside 
> with wire-dry and/or wd40. 
> 
> Could any of the things I plan to do to the distributer cause other 
> problems??
> 
> thanks,
> Adam

Hi Adam,
Nothing you're planning sounds terribly bad, though I must confess I 
don't know what "wire-dry" is. If it's flammable, you might hold off 
starting the car until it evaporates. I'm inclined to think wd-40 in 
the distributor might do more harm than good. If "wire-dry" is 
similar to the sprays used in the electronics industry to remove 
water, neither it nor WD-40 will seal out water after the fact.

More importantly, it may be that moisture is grounding out the 
ignition pulses at the spark plugs, instead of the distributor as you 
suspect. Either place is plausible. You can find out where the 
trouble is, if it's caused by moisture, by deliberately inducing the 
trouble on a dry day using a spray bottle with water, and spraying 
the distributor, and the sparkplug insulators with water one at a 
time, with plenty of time between squirts. It's an old trick. I 
wish I had invented it, it's that good.

Good luck.

Rick Gendreau 11472