Not running well when damp out
09-09-2014, 05:27 PM
#1
Race Car
Thread Starter
Not running well when damp out
Here's a strange one.
Car feels like it is missing when it's damp out or when raining.
It wasn't much of a problem until last week when I was at Mosport and went to run in the rain. Felt like I was running on 2 cylinders.
When I open the trunk the motor is dry!
Let it sit and it really pours. No way it will start and I have a 1 hr ride home.
Flat bed it home, and it fires up the next morning and off to the track I go again. Car runs great all day.
New wires last year.
So I try using a misting bottle and soak different parts of the engine and think I hear a popping sound from the distributor, but motor runs great.
Let it sit and do it again, but no popping sound now.
It almost feels like a sensor that is changing fuel/air ratio when it senses dampness.
What are your thoughts fellow oil pumpers?
Car feels like it is missing when it's damp out or when raining.
It wasn't much of a problem until last week when I was at Mosport and went to run in the rain. Felt like I was running on 2 cylinders.
When I open the trunk the motor is dry!
Let it sit and it really pours. No way it will start and I have a 1 hr ride home.
Flat bed it home, and it fires up the next morning and off to the track I go again. Car runs great all day.
New wires last year.
So I try using a misting bottle and soak different parts of the engine and think I hear a popping sound from the distributor, but motor runs great.
Let it sit and do it again, but no popping sound now.
It almost feels like a sensor that is changing fuel/air ratio when it senses dampness.
What are your thoughts fellow oil pumpers?
09-09-2014, 06:07 PM
#2
Addict
When I first got my car it ran horribly after washing in. Turned out to be water getting into the distributor. Cap was likely 19 years old. Could that be your issue?
09-09-2014, 08:15 PM
#4
RL Technical Advisor
If you have no records or don't remember anything about your maintenance regimen, I'd replace the distributor cap & rotor, right away. If your wires are less than a year old and they are good ones, you should be OK. Time to replace the plugs too, if they are as old as the cap & rotor. 
09-10-2014, 01:08 PM
#5
Race Car
Thread Starter
If you have no records or don't remember anything about your maintenance regimen, I'd replace the distributor cap & rotor, right away. If your wires are less than a year old and they are good ones, you should be OK. Time to replace the plugs too, if they are as old as the cap & rotor.
What really puzzles me is why it doesn't do it when I sprayed water on it.
09-10-2014, 01:19 PM
#6
Team Owner
i would look closely at the 3 sensors ..CHT , and the two on the bell housing , cant remember there names ( crank and reference maybe ? ) but i think Doug has replaced them. You might not get to them with a spray bottle.
09-10-2014, 01:27 PM
#7
Race Car
Thread Starter
Who is Doug? lol Or do you mean Shirley?
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09-10-2014, 01:34 PM
#8
Addict
Ya, who is Doug? ...and do we really know what time it is?
What Clive is saying is that is may be your Crank Position Sensor on the fly wheel...so yes, the ones next to the fuel filter that lead down through the engine surround. The wire insulation loves to get brittle and crack with the heat from the exhaust pipes. That problem may only manifest with rain water spraying around under the car. The wires end up on the driver's side of the bell housing. It is also a common problem.
What Clive is saying is that is may be your Crank Position Sensor on the fly wheel...so yes, the ones next to the fuel filter that lead down through the engine surround. The wire insulation loves to get brittle and crack with the heat from the exhaust pipes. That problem may only manifest with rain water spraying around under the car. The wires end up on the driver's side of the bell housing. It is also a common problem.
09-10-2014, 02:33 PM
#9
Race Car
Thread Starter
Ya, who is Doug? ...and do we really know what time it is?
What Clive is saying is that is may be your Crank Position Sensor on the fly wheel...so yes, the ones next to the fuel filter that lead down through the engine surround. The wire insulation loves to get brittle and crack with the heat from the exhaust pipes. That problem may only manifest with rain water spraying around under the car. The wires end up on the driver's side of the bell housing. It is also a common problem.
What Clive is saying is that is may be your Crank Position Sensor on the fly wheel...so yes, the ones next to the fuel filter that lead down through the engine surround. The wire insulation loves to get brittle and crack with the heat from the exhaust pipes. That problem may only manifest with rain water spraying around under the car. The wires end up on the driver's side of the bell housing. It is also a common problem.
Soaked them big time.
Now remember when I drove in the rain at the track the motor was completely dry before I went out and it was acting up as soon as I started it.
The top was still dry when I came in as well.
09-10-2014, 03:08 PM
#10
Addict
The engine is hot and dissipates moisture almost immediately. It is underneath the engine where the wires crack and where water sprays up when driving. I have no doubt that the engine is dry inside the engine compartment.
