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Car Stalling When Damp

Question:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Excerpts from netnews.rec.autos.misc: 4-May-95 Re: Car Stalling When .edu writes: | My wife’s 87 Hyundai Excel has been acting up again lately.  Every | time it rains or is damp it will not stay running– it bucks and | stalls.   My guess would be deteriorating high-tension wires (from coil to distributor and from distributor to spark plugs) – Another problem could be a crack in the distributor cap allowing moisture to get in there.  If the wires seem to be OK, this might be another thing to check.  Unfortunately, I don’t know how to find if this is a problem without replacing the cap, but if you haven’t replaced the cap or wires in a while, it might no be a bad idea to replace these (and the spark plugs while you’re at it).

I’ve had similar problems with my electronic ignition module. Only on damp days. Check for a crack in the coil too. Easy way to tell: Go under the hood at night and spray down the suspect components with a fine water mist (windex bottle, etc.) and observe if their is any arcing where it shouldn’t be. This will show cracks in wires and coils. It’s worked for me :-) Good Luck!! jeff i still have NO opinion! —— er, uh, well maybe I, uh, OH nevermind! and it was eleven o’clock, which was time for a little something! – Pooh

Response:

A good way to find a problem like a bad distibutor cap, plug wire, coil, etc.  is to look around the engine compartment with the engine running in the dark.  Any arcing should be quite visible.  You can use a spray bottle to mist a little moisture around should the problem be more evident when wet. -Bob

Response:

Excerpts from netnews.rec.autos.misc: 4-May-95 Re: Car Stalling When

.edu writes: | My wife’s 87 Hyundai Excel has been acting up again lately.  Every | time it rains or is damp it will not stay running– it bucks and | stalls.  I know very little about cars so I would appreciate any | thoughts you might have as to what my problem might be. My guess would be deteriorating high-tension wires (from coil to distributor and from distributor to spark plugs) – replacing these did wonders for my ‘86 Civic, which was exhibiting similar symptoms.  One way to check this out – get some WD40 and spray it on the plug wires and connectors the next time it rains and if this clears the problem (temporarily!!), replace the plug wires.

Another problem could be a crack in the distributor cap allowing moisture to get in there.  If the wires seem to be OK, this might be another thing to check.  Unfortunately, I don’t know how to find if this is a problem without replacing the cap, but if you haven’t replaced the cap or wires in a while, it might no be a bad idea to replace these (and the spark plugs while you’re at it). -Scott Ballentine  Carnegie Mellon University  School of Computer Science

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says… My wife’s 87 Hyundai Excel has been acting up again lately.  Every time it rains or is damp it will not stay running-

 I’m no mechanic, but I’ve experienced this problem on several cars, and it’s almost always the ignition system, either the distributor cap, or faulty wires.  Steve

Response:

}My wife’s 87 Hyundai Excel has been acting up again lately.  Every }time it rains or is damp it will not stay running– i t bucks and }stalls.  I know very little about cars so I would appreciate any }thoughts you might have as to what my problem might be.

You need a new distributor cap and rotor.  There’s probably a tiny crack or hole somewhere in your cap which is allowing moisture to form inside the assembly, which will prevent the spark plugs from getting clean power when it’s damp outside.  This is trivial to fix yourself; just go get OEM parts from a good parts store (around $15 to $20 for a new cap and rotor) and make sure you label your spark plug wires so that you put them back in the correct firing order.  Also pick up a $1 tube of silicon grease to get a good connection between the cap’s terminals and the plug wires.  Make sure you tighten down the cap well, but don’t overtighten.  When you take off the old one, notice whether there is any condensation on the inside of the cap (especially if it’s rained recently).  If that doesn’t fix the problem, try a new coil wire and plug wires (also very trivial to do yourself, provided your plugs are easily accessible). Jeff — Jeffrey S. Curtis                      | Internetwork Manager 9700 South Cass Avenue, ECT-221        | Voice: 708/252-1789 Argonne, IL 60439                      | Fax:   708/252-9689

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My wife’s 87 Hyundai Excel has been acting up again lately.  Every time it rains or is damp it will not stay running– i t bucks and stalls.  I know very little about cars so I would appreciate any thoughts you might have as to what my problem might be. – Thanks,     John

Response:

| My wife’s 87 Hyundai Excel has been acting up again lately.  Every | time it rains or is damp it will not stay running– it bucks and | stalls.  I know very little about cars so I would appreciate any | thoughts you might have as to what my problem might be. My guess would be deteriorating high-tension wires (from coil to distributor and from distributor to spark plugs) – replacing these did wonders for my ‘86 Civic, which was exhibiting similar symptoms.  One way to check this out – get some WD40 and spray it on the plug wires and connectors the next time it rains and if this clears the problem (temporarily!!), replace the plug wires. — | Mike Leipe             | "It’s a lousy world, Sir Magnus.  A few happy fish | | Bell-Northern Research |  will make it better." – John le Carre             | | (613) 765-3206         |           * My opinions, not BNR’s *               |

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