car wont start in the rain

engine just turns and turns but wont catch.
Start it in the sun, starts right up


any ideas?

and no, I can't move to AZ

 

Your cars a picky S O B.

Seriously though. Find out which its not getting when it wont start, Air
Fuel, or Spark.

 

Been there.
Next time it's wet out have somebody crank the engine while you look under
the hood. Look at the coil pack where the four plug wires come out. If
you see lots of sparking then you have cracks in the coil pack and will
need to replace it (or you can attempt to cover the cracks with a high
temperature epoxy like JB weld).

 

JB weld contains metal and wouldnt insulate the coil. Usually they crack
internally from one winding to the next because of bad wires or plugs.

 

The cracks are fine enough that the epoxy won't seep in and make contact
with the coils (if you got bigger cracks than that you've got other
problems). The purpose is to keep the water out. My epoxy fix has held
up for over 15000 miles. Beats the cost of a new coil pack. Never
thought of looking at the contents of the epoxy, it's just what I had on
hand. I'm sure any other high temp epoxy will do the job.

 

Hey, my dad had a Vega that was like that I think it was '74 or '75
or '76 that Chevy changed the ignition, and actually advertised that the
car was more likelty to start in the rain (!)

Everyone else has it right - when it doubt, check the spark, first...

 

Had someone turn it over for me while I watched.
I could not see any sparks.

But that sure does sound like the right spot.
It's getting air
It's getting gas

 

Pulled the leads of and looked at the points.
yuck! they were filled with white powder.
Which absorbed moisture
which insulated the connection so the plugs wouldn't fire.

Any reason not to go at the plugs with a small metal file and brass brush to
get them nice and shiny and making good contact again?