Well, today I took the car out in the rain to go to wendys. Now its been pouring all day, and I know the rain is heavy because the back hatch is leaking onto my back seat, and the car usually never leaks. Made it to wendys fine.

Now, on the way back, I noticed it was running a little rough. The closer I got to campus, the worse it was. It keeps backfiring and knocking, and the more gas I give it the worse It happens. The shifter was shaking all over the place on me and the car kept bucking. I made it back to campus and parked in a faculty spot because I was afraid it wouldnt make it to the farther lot. I let it idle, and popped the hood, and the only water I could find was in the air cleaner lid. Well, there were a few drops on the distrubutor and wires but whatever. I let the car idle another five minutes because thats what I did when I got water in the dizzy before, and it dried it out. I tried to give it some gas, and it just shuddered and stalled. Now it wont start again. It smells like gasoline, and stinky smoke keeps coming out the pipes when I crank it over (smells like when I ran seafoam). It will seem like its gonna start up but it never will.

 

I'm not a great mechanic (everyone here knows that by now ) but I would guess the control module is bad on your distributor or you have an injector failing.

 

Alight, well I got the engine started again, I let it sit a while, and then I was cranking it over and pumped the gas a few times and it backfired, then started right up. So, I took off the air cleaner, and the injectors are squirting just as nice as they usually do.

I was wondering, is it possible to loose timing on a CC ignition? Maybe the distributor is just off a little. Either way I cant try turning it because I dont have any tools here at school. Not even a screwdriver. And I have never shot timing before so I would probably mess it up - I have heard if you do it wrong, the car might never start again!

Another thing, the LO3 has a timing chain, right? So it couldnt have jumped a tooth like the honda ppl have happen all the time on their timing belts.

Also, what it that "control module" for the distrubutor got wet? Would that hurt anything?

 

Oops! I didn't catch that your motor is TBI. Not sure if the control module getting wet would cause problems... it really shouldn't get wet cause its under the distributor cap.

Hopefully some other nice board member will offer more useful advice than I have

 

Well, thanks for the help. I took a short nap, and went back out to the car. Sure enough, it started right up. I took it around the block, and it seems to run even better (or maybe i am just imagining) but either way, it runs mint now!

What I cant figure out is why it does this? Is it normal for these cars not to run in the rain?