Alright, folks...I've got a big problem with my '90 RS. It's a 305 TBI and everything under the hood is stock. The pictures I've got on here are pretty outdated; it has been restored and now boasts a 2 1/2" functional cowl hood.

Yesterday, since the roads were clean and the weather was nice here in WI for a change, I got several gallons of gas and then took my car out for a spin. I parked it in my garage, where I spent the next few hours hand washing and waxing it. I used Meguiar's Gold Class. No hose was used; it wasn't that dirty, anyway (just needed it totally clean for the waxing). I just kept swapping out my rinsing buckets as needed.

Anyway, I let the wax do its thing, then removed it. That done, I had to move the car over a bit, since I had parked in the center of the garage for the washing. Well, when I tried to fire it up...it would barely start, let alone run. It sounded HORRIBLE, like it was dying. RPMs were around the 10 and would keep dancing between 5 and 10, then finally die.

After initial panic and "WTF? All I did was wash it!" ranting, I thought I had a burst of Gregory House-style problem-solving when I remembered the cowl... and my exposed distributor . I tried to avoid slopping water everywhere, especially on the hood area, but I guessed that maybe I'd soaked the wiring. Thought I'd give it a day to dry off and try again.

Well, I just tried again today and while the initial fire up sounded better, it dropped right back to the 10s again and sounded awful.

Am I wrong about what happened to my car to cause this? Or perhaps just impatient? I looked it over and nothing appears to be wet now, but it has been very damp the last 24 hours and rainy today. Should I give it another day or two and wait for a warmer/sunny day?

Or could this be something else entirely?

It just baffles and frustrates me, because until yesterday afternoon, my car has been running stronger and the best it has in the 6+ years I've owned it; also had a full checkup on it last week and nothing was wrong, other than a small power steering leak. All the fluids are at the right levels and nothing looks out of sorts, broken, etc.

 

Update: Okay, it was warmer today, so I tried starting it up again this afternoon. The startup sounded normal and it didn't try to die on me, but the idle is now somewhat rough. It doesn't have a miss or anything, but it just sounds..."not quite right". A.K.A., not as good as it did a week ago.

Could the water have messed up my wiring? I'm not sure exactly when's the last time I replaced plugs and wires. I'm going to try again in a day or two and maybe try my luck out on the road with it and see what happens.