I dont know if its moisture someplace condensing or barometric pressure dropping or what. On rainy mornings first start of the day, or when rain is threatening, humid mornings. Car cranks fine. Doesnt fire at all. ONLY FIRST START OF THE DAY is hard then its fine for the rest of the day. Today, wont start at all!! Anybody help me plz, I need the car to get to work Monday. Gary
I had that problem once.....it was the dist cap for me check for moisture or fine cracks... edit-- also ...if you have points..check for arcing between the + & - on the ignition coil...easy 2 see in the dark
I had the same problem on a Chevrolet motor I recently had. It was getting moisture in the distributor cap, and when I finally got it to fire up, it would mis-fire on some of the cylinders until it warmed up and got rid of the moisture on the inside. I pulled the cap off and wiped it out with tape head cleaning pads. (alcohol wipes). I got some stuff from the parts store that you spray on the distributor cap while its installed on the distributor that helps seal it from moisture.. Never had the problem again. I cannot think of the name brand right now, but ill try to figure it out..
hard starting The usual culprit in this situation is dirt on the ignition components. the dist cap wires , plugs, coil ect. :Smarty: dirt will attract moisture. moisture will short the system to ground. I have just cleaned the motor at the wishy washy, dried it out good and it would fire up just fine. p The best fix is to clean the motor at the wishy washy, replace the dist cap , wires and rotor and coil wire. If the car has points replace them and the condenser. better yet convert to a pointless ign. :Brow:
Distributor cap and wires. When was the last time you changed them? That is your problem for sure. Cheap carbon core wires will eventually develop so much resistance that leads to a short somewhere. I had a bad coil wire that would short to ground when it was wet out. The engine wouldn't fire, and you could actually hear it arcing from the coil wire to the negative on the coil. I had someone crank the engine for me, as I looked at the engine. I immediately spotted what I was hearing. Replaced the cap, rotor and wires, and never had another problem.
That's right Trevor, Many cars will start great in the middle of the winter, but will fail to start when the weather is getting softer :TU:
Thanks with cold starting solutions. Thanks for all the advice. Heres what I did today. I removed the cap, and there was a lot of crust on the 8 contacts. So I sanded and polished them to bright metal with my dremel tool and wire wheel. two of the towers were dirty on the inside, the others were bright metal. One of the towers was kinda deformed at the top. I plan to get a new one as soon as I can. There was rust on the end of the rotor which I sanded and polished to bright metal with a file and then sandpaper. I plan to get a new one of these too. ( I wish I could get NOS) There was some corrosion on some of the ends of the spark plug wires, I made them bright and shiny. (can someone suggest what kind of wires I should get). I replaced the vaccum advance (because I had a new one in my toolbox that I bought because of excessive knock on hard acceleration) . When I installed the new vaccuum advance, I think I stripped the front screw which also holds down a ground wire from the base plate. I dont know what to do. Im afraid I stripped the threads on the aluminum housing. It never tightens up, it seems to hold. Maybe epoxy?? Anyone ? The coil wire from the + side of the coil to the distributor was really dry and cooked from laying on the manifold all these years, then I accidently pinched it when I was loosening the distributor clamp bolt. The wire was mashed and open. I replaced the wire. I set the dwell to 30 deg. I set the timing to 4 deg at 650 rpm with the car in drive and the vaccuum advance plugged. I didnt check the plugs. Maybe tomorrow. I started the car right up and I drove it out on the highway. The knock is nearly gone. What little is left I think is because I run 89 octane in it. The placard on the radator cover says 91 minimum. It has more power now and really seems to breathe a lot better. More responsive throttle. I didnt replace the capacitor. Do they go bad often ? Points looked good. I think I replaced those before, I cant remember. Light brown in the center. Is that normal ? The true test will be tomorrow morning if it rains or is humid again. Thanks everybody.!!
tune up Gary, any time you replace the points also replace the condensor. [saves time and trouble] as to the screw you stripped, just get a slightly bigger one of the same thread pitch and put it in. sounds like you are getting good experience and knowledge along the way.
Gary, Convert your car to an HEI set-up. How do those new wheels look that I sold you a year ago? Go to AutoZone and get the Conrad brass contact cap and rotor kit if you keep the stock points distributor.
