No Start After Driving In The Rain

So Tuesday evening I drove my Jeep to dinner and came back in a hard driving rain. About 10 miles total.

parked the Jeep outside Tuesday night. Got lazy and let it set outside until tonight. We had another rain last night.

went to pull it into the garage tonight where I usually keep it and couldn’t get it to start. Cranks strong but never tries to start.

In multiple occasions I’ve let it set in the garage for a few weeks without starting it and it has always started right up.

I’ll go through the checklist tomorrow but thought I’d see if anyone has run across this before?

 

moisture in distributor cap

 

Yes I have. The Buick (I'm assuming) distributor being up front gets a lot of splash, and when you stop, water condenses in the cap. Pull it and spray some WD40, clears it right up.

 

Yep it’s the v6 with prestolite dizzy.
Thanks. I’ll give that a try

 

I learned a long time ago
a cut piece of motorcycle inner tube . around cap . works wonders driving in rain

 

First happened to me in my first car- a '63 Buick Special with a 215. I kept WD40 handy.

 

well, I learned something once again. I couldn’t wait til tomorrow so I went out and did the wd40 trick as you suggested. Gave it a few cranks and it started right up! Thanks again!

going to go buy an inner tube tomorrow. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

Thanks for the pic! I’ll get that done this weekend.

 

If your at home, an air compressor works well.

 

Ford cars in the ‘80’s and early ‘90’s with the 5.0 had a real nice rubber distributor boot. I used to collect them At junkyards and sell them here. If you can find one they work very well and are easy to remove and install. Look factory too. Too small for hei but work great on points distributors.

 

Yes, the fan pulls a lot of rain through the radiator and sprays the engine. When you park it hot, that water turns to steam and condensates on and under the distributor cap.
-Donny