'91 Accord won't start when wet

I have a '91 accord with 230,000 miles on it. When the car is wet, I have
to hold the key for about 5-10 seconds to get the engine to catch. When
it catches, it runs rough for 5-10 minutes. It has been raining for 5
days and now the car will not "catch" at all. The engine turned a couple
times but never caught. The spark plugs are new (less than a year, or
10,000 miles). I've checked all the fuses. Any suggestions? Thanks in
advance.

 

Unusual. Check your battery terminal connections. Clean them well. Are
they wet?

 

Replace the plug wires, and wipe out the inside of the distributor cap.
High-tension current (used to fire the plugs) is leaking off before it hits
the plugs.

Spend the extra $20 and get OEM from the dealer. You'll help save your coil
that way.

 

I just wanted to tell the oringinal poster to check the distributer cap
for cracks when you finish cleaning it. It's easy to miss the cracks
unless you look very carefully at it. Some people replace the distributer
cap every 30,000 miles. If you have NEVER replaced the distributer cap--go
ahead and buy a new one.

 

Yup. Like everybody said, replace distributor cap, rotor, spark plug
wires and coil wire and get the baby humming again.

 

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If it's spinning OK, but not firing, try holding the pedal to the floor
and crank it for ten - fifteen seconds. If it starts, you've got one
injector leaking. Especially if the problem only happens if the car sat
overnight or longer. This is decscribed in your Owner's manual as
Flooded Engine, and the manual says it's OK to do it.

'Curly'

 

shit, you beat me!

 

247K on my Integra. Original clutch too.

 

replace all with OEM parts:

distributor cap
rotor
spark plug wires

it should run then

 

As an emergency technique, you can spray 99% alcohol on the distributor
cap and wires, then let it evaporate before trying to start. This will
dispel water and make starting easier.

If you have been having many incidents of hard starting, check your oil
for the smell of gasoline. If you smell gas, your oil has been
contaminated and you should change your oil.

Dan

(This account is not used for email.)

 

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Excellent point. If the engine has been flooding (see my previous
response) the oil will be stinking with gasoline, although a
non-mechanical type might not know how it should smell. I thought that
aduring a long drive the high heat and the PCV would extract / burn out
a lot of gas from the oil, no?

'Curly'

 

depends if there's enough in there to ruin the film strength of the oil.
someone i knew deliberately put some kerosene in their oil to "flush"
it. and then drove it around. the journal bearings were hammered out
inside 10 miles & had to be towed home.

in the case above, it's safer to change. you can even do it without
changing the filter - will get rid of enough contamination to ensure
reliability until the next scheduled change.

 

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My question is, how much fuel will injected engines spray into a
non-starting engine, (or how much fuel will drip out of the pressurized
rail overnight if an injector is dribbling)? It's not like the old
carburetors (with accelerator pump) that could HOSE the fuel in there,
is it?
When my Odyssey flooded overnight, it seemed to take a while to get it
to start, but it was actually less than ten seconds, I'm sure. Gasohol
cured it.
I never thought to READ THE MANUAL to figure out the problem, at the
time. :-(

'Curly'