Engine died on me tonight in the rain...., won't start, helpness please. djet Options

[Michael N]

1

Check the coil wire or around the distributor. Wife had a car that used to have a similar issue what happened was that the boot around the coil wire on the dizzy had a crack that you couldn't see, but if you had someone else crank while you were looking under the hood, you could see the arc across the wire to the dizzy. (obviously easier to see when it was dark) It would do exactly what yours is doing where if it sits for a while ie: a day it would dry out enough to run. ( cuz there's no water to conduct the arc from the wire. Also had similar issue with my 81 Mercedes. The wires would heat up and expand and then arc to the valve covers. solved this by getting some fuel line a little bigger and split it and wrapped it around each plug wire. Just a thought??

I had the same problem on my old 911SC. The car ran fantastic on dry days but H2O in the engine area from washing the car or driving in the rain would cause a short with the spark shorting out through cracked ignition wires. I would get stranded in the rain and have the car towed to the shop for repairs. The rain would stop, car would dry and mechanic could not duplicate the problem. I finally figured it was the water in the engine area causing the problem. I tracked down the short by taking a spray bottle and setting it to mist. Once it was dark I misted the engine and looked for the arc.

[Hammy]

1

Check the coil wire or around the distributor. Wife had a car that used to have a similar issue what happened was that the boot around the coil wire on the dizzy had a crack that you couldn't see, but if you had someone else crank while you were looking under the hood, you could see the arc across the wire to the dizzy. (obviously easier to see when it was dark) It would do exactly what yours is doing where if it sits for a while ie: a day it would dry out enough to run. ( cuz there's no water to conduct the arc from the wire. Also had similar issue with my 81 Mercedes. The wires would heat up and expand and then arc to the valve covers. solved this by getting some fuel line a little bigger and split it and wrapped it around each plug wire. Just a thought??

I had the same problem on my old 911SC. The car ran fantastic on dry days but H2O in the engine area from washing the car or driving in the rain would cause a short with the spark shorting out through cracked ignition wires. I would get stranded in the rain and have the car towed to the shop for repairs. The rain would stop, car would dry and mechanic could not duplicate the problem. I finally figured it was the water in the engine area causing the problem. I tracked down the short by taking a spray bottle and setting it to mist. Once it was dark I misted the engine and looked for the arc.

Thanks. That's something I can check for too.

Though the possibly of this being the problem might be eliminated due to what happened today:

After I got the car home, I let it sit for an hour or so and then decided to chance it and go for a quick drive to the parts store and to see if everything was working ok. No rain today and the engine compartment was dry. It ran normally but then suddenly stumbled again and died while sitting in traffic. Luckily it restarted with some cranking, and I quickly got it back home as fast as possible.

Since then I have put in the new fuel filter and cleaned/sanded the relays on the relay board. Haven't test driven it yet though.

[Beamer13]

I would totally check those ignition wires!!! They could just have a crack or maybe weakened and are arcing to the block??