So, living in east central Florida, I was rained out by TS Fay... The garage, unfortunately, being full atm, my '89 Formula sat outside in the rain... And all that water came in the power bulge hood, and got the dizzy wet. No start... Let it sit for a couple days, and it started right up, and then it rained a SMALL bit the next day, and once again, no start... Let it sit again, and the next time it started, huge backfire through the air cleaner (lots of smoke). Today I replaced the dizzy cap and rotor with a nice new Accel. Fired RIGHT up. Ran smoother than it has in awhile as well (pretty sure I needed to do this for a month or so). I let it run for about 2 mins before I shut it off, put the plenum cover plate back on, shut the hood, and cleaned up. Got in the car to take it for a spin, and it turns over, fires up, then dies instantly. Tried the key again, same thing. Took the dizzy back apart, and everything looks good... Try the key again, same thing... Fires up and dies instantly... WTF!?!?!? Anyone have any ideas on this one, cos I'm a bit stumped... I've been without my baby for about a week now, and it's beginning to really **** me off (instead I get to drive an '04 Golf that just doesn't move fast enough)... Any suggestions would be appreciated at this point...

 

did you double check all the plug wires in the right order and all wires hooked back up. There's a spray that you can buy to clean the wire connectors also. They may have gotten water in them and that would help dry them back out. I've done that with mine long ago. also could have gotten water into the cleaner/ intake. Not sure what your engine looks like. I have an 84 with the bulge hood but I have left the tray that attaches under the hood to catch the rain a little and drain it away from the dist. and I also have a smaller air cleaner so it doesn't collect the rain coming in from the scoop anymore. Not sure if this will be help or not but can't hurt to ask. If it has gotten water in the engine it may take a while to dry out. you could get some of that stuff from an auto store to put in the tank, I believe that will dry the water out. when we got water in ours it would have smoke come out of the top and run for a while and shut off. it took a while it get it going and get it out of it's system. I think we started it once and just help the gas to keep it from dying until it started to calm down. good luck

 

I have TPI, so water won't get into the intake itself (air cleaner is behind pass headlight)... Firing order is correct. Engine started and ran GREAT after replacing dizzy cap/rotor. When I went to start it again 10mins later, it just wouldn't start.. it gave that first roar like it was starting, then nothing (reminds me of a lawnmower that won't start)... The wires didn't have moisture in them, but I do have one wire that seems to be looser than the others, but I don't think that would prevent it from starting (would it?) I wish I had the rain gutter on the hood, but the blockout and the gutter were both removed before I owned it...

 

If it ran for a while then I would assume you had spark, fuel and air. Timing must have been right, spark plug order and rotor cap must have been right.

I would verify I have spark. If so then I would verify I have the correct fuel pressure from the pump to the injectors.

The only other concern about rain water would be the possibility of water down inside the wire harnesses causing an intermittent short of some kind.

 

I planned on checking the coil out today, but I drained the battery last night trying to start it. Just waiting on the charger. I didn't drive it through the rain, but it was parked in my driveway (it was never below water), so I don't think that water would've gotten into the harness... How do I check fuel pressure at the injectors?

 

checked the coil, lots of spark... still no start, though.... is it possible moisture in distributer could have hurt anything else, like say the pickup? There is some rust inside the dizzy, esp on the shaft the rotor sits on, could this be an issue as well?

 

Well what I meant was to check the fuel pressure and that would tell you what your injectors are seeing. You might have a Schrader (sp?) valve where you can connect a fuel pressure gage. Do a search through the forums for past posts. They can give you some idea of how others have done it.

It is possible that the fuel pump or connection of the fuel pump to the hard line inside the tank are having problems. Any more, when I see problems similar to yours I think everyone should start by checking the fuel pressure. If they can rule that out as a problem then that is a BIG help.

 

Ok, so after testing the coil, I decided to second guess my results and took the coil to autozone. They tested it and it was fine... Came back home and decided to take the cap/rotor off again (third time's a charm)... My dad came over during this time and looked at everything and said, "well, it all looks good". We proceeded to put it all back together, and went to start the car. Battery was dead, so we charged the batt (I never fully charged it), and my dad got behind the wheel, fired it up, and it started, but he had to keep on the gas or it would quit out... I can hear spark going on, gotta wait until dark to see what's sparking, and it sounded like there may be a vac leak (sucking sound)... now comes the fun part of finding where the leak is... any quick way to find vac leaks on tpi cars? So many f'in hoses, I can't keep it straight. Anyhow, 5 starts in a row just fine, and then 3 starts after a 10min break just fine... so far so good... Now if I could only figure out what was causing all this mess... Prolly gonna have to replace the wires... on my old Nova (1979, L6, 1bbl) I just used the cheap Duralasts with the lifetime (and changed my wires at autozone so I never paid for wires on that car again, however it's much easier to change wires on a L6 in that bigass engine bay than it is on a LB8 TPI in the same size bay). Haven't changed the wires on this car as they were brand new when I bought it 3 years ago , and I've put less than 20k on it since purchase (car had been tuned up 2-3 miles before sale at reputable shop). Right now it has Delco 7mm... thinking of some Accel 8mm... Is this a sound choice (not made of money, just like my car to run better than average).