Car won't Start in bad weather. (smell Gass)

Macro47 · 09-11-2008, 05:24 PM

So, two weeks ago, I go to get in my car while it was raining. I started it up and it stalled when I tried to back out of my parking spot. After that I could not start it for 3 days till the weather cleared up. I did smell a little bit of gas while it was raining. And please remember that I did NOT get a chance to drive it while it was wet out.

After the weather cleared up, the car drove like a champ.

Yesterday and today it has been raining and once again the car won't even start. The starter is running but the engine just won't kick over. And I once again, start to smell a little bit of gas.

The car does not have a distributor cap to get water in. What else could this be? Every car place i talk to says "bring it in". HELLO!!!! IT WON'T RUN!!!! lol

Why would this car choose to only not start when it's raining and run perfect other then that?

The car is a 2001 Hyundai Elantra 2.0L with 165,000 miles

Any advise on where to go with this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Macro

jsinton · 09-13-2008, 07:29 AM

Obviously you are getting water in a major connection someplace. I would suspect water in the fuse box, or water in the computer connections. I would check fuses for water or evidence of corrosion, and start pulling off wiring harness connections and inspect for water or corrosion.

peachferrari · 09-15-2008, 05:22 PM

Turning over but not starting? I highly doubt it is a fuse box problem or you'd have a lot more issues than that. Sounds like it's not getting spark though, so maybe check your plug wires and the coil pack. I don't know how those could get wet from rain though unless you have no hood.

Macro47 · 12-20-2008, 10:09 PM

I just realized that I never did update this with what the answer to the problem was. It turns out that the shielding around the spark plug wires was getting warn. Being that the wires lay right on the valve cover they started grounding through the shielding to the cover instead of to the plugs. This happened when it rained because of the added moisture in the air to add conductivity between the wire and valve cover. With dryer air the electrical path of less resistance was to the plug and not through the shielding.

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