rphelan

I have a 94 Sentra GX (1.6). The engine has 216K and has been well maintained (Mobil 1 & filter every 3500 miles, cap-rotor-plugs-wires-air & FOF change every 15K). Never had any problems...about 3 months ago the car wouldn't start after a steady or short but hard rain. I changed the cap-rotor-air filter (only 7K miles on them), checked the plugs and coil. Both look good...strong spark. If I wait a day after a rain...the car starts like nothing ever happened!?!?!? Once running...it runs great!?!?!?! Any suggestions would be great! Thank you!!!

stevensol

My guess is condensation is affecting something in the ignition/electrical system. It could be a million things.

Kindfiend

I had a '90 civic with this kind of problem. I replaced the ignition coil and module (common problems in '90's civics), but it would still stall and not start during the rain. I replaced the distributor, and that fixed the problem. The o-ring between the dist and the cap was worn out and I guess it allowed moisture to get where it shouldn't.

It's worth a look since it's pretty easy to check.

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Kindfiend

01 Sentra GXE
92 SE-R

pete?

if it is moister getting into the DIS, you can use some electricle cleaner to dry it out when its wet for a temp fix untill you get a new dis or O ring.

oewoko

my car used to run horrible whenever it rained. a lot of stumbling, and if i didn't stay on the gas, it would shut off. turned out my plugs gap was too wide.

rphelan

Hi,
I should have mentioned that I did replace the oring (new with Cap). I have tried spraying the inside of the cap/distributor with WD-40 when it wouldn't start (to lift moisture???). This didn't improve things. As I mentioned before, I did check my plugs for spark (I didn't mention that I did regap them at the same time). These are the platinum plugs.

Is there anything else other than the obvious (coil, cap, plugs) that could get effected by moisture?

Yesterday the car wouldn't start in the morning @ 9am (snow and rain the day before). I opened the hood and left it. At 3pm I went out and it started up like nothing ever happened...Never skipped a beat!!!

Again, Thank you!!!

Centurion

You can take a spray bottle and "mist" the electrical components to isolate the problem, assuming it's a moisture -related problem.

rphelan

Wow, I'm not sure why I didn't think of this...too easy I guess! Thanks, I'm going to try this tomorrow!