Car starting problem when wet, opinions welcome

[GGD]

Racer X wrote:
could be bad insulation on the wires as well. How old? replace if more than about 7 years. Bend one around your finger and look for cracks in the insulation. Some wires have date codes for manufacture. Look for those as well.

I think they were replaced about 4 years ago (I hope it was all 5 at that time and no just the 4 sparkplug wires). I'm going to replace the one from the coil to the distributor since I saw the arcing from under the boot on that one. I'll also clean around the connector on the coil and inspect for cracks.

I'll get some wire-dry or WD-40 to have around if the problem still exists. And consider replacing the other 4 wires and the coil.

If that doesn't fix it, I'll reset PRAM and repair permissions.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

[BigGuynRusty]

GGD wrote:
[quote=Racer X]
could be bad insulation on the wires as well. How old? replace if more than about 7 years. Bend one around your finger and look for cracks in the insulation. Some wires have date codes for manufacture. Look for those as well.

I think they were replaced about 4 years ago (I hope it was all 5 at that time and no just the 4 sparkplug wires). I'm going to replace the one from the coil to the distributor since I saw the arcing from under the boot on that one. I'll also clean around the connector on the coil and inspect for cracks.

I'll get some wire-dry or WD-40 to have around if the problem still exists. And consider replacing the other 4 wires and the coil.

If that doesn't fix it, I'll reset PRAM and repair permissions.

Thanks for all the suggestions. SoCal has very high ozone levels.
Unless the person that did the wire change used high silicone content wires, they are shot after only a few years.
Always use good wires.

BGnR

[space-time]

"If that doesn't fix it, I'll reset PRAM and repair permissions."

Permissions? for such an old car? maybe you meant to Rebuild the Desktop?

Anyway, cranking that long will kill the battery, get new wires and a new distributor cap and problems should go away.

For an engine to start, it needs 3 things:

1-gas: check, seems like your engine gets gas
2-air (or more precise, Oxygen). Again, sound like that's OK
3-spark: you nailed the problem, that spark should have been inside the engine, not outside.

new wires and a cap should fix it.

[Racer X]

under hood temps are a lot higher than they were decades ago, and good silicone insulated "wires" are far more important these days. Voltages are probably twice what they were when we were kids running point ignitions too.