engine problems in wet weather

[HMan4U]

I own a 1996 VW Golf and recently, whenever it is rainy or snowy with wet surface, my engine stops running. About 5 to 10 minutes later the car will start again, but it repeats until the ground is dry again.
Does anyone have a clue what causes this problen and what can be done about it ??

[denisond3]

All I have is a wild guess. When its chilly and damp, its also humid - and the moisture pulled into the engine's intake will drop in pressure and temperature as it goes past the throttle. The drop can be 50°f. So the moisture in the air turns to ice, which will build up and interfere with the normal air flow in the intake manifold. I can imainge it may also accumulate around the injector nozzles.
All older cars used to have a thermostatic valve in the air intake, to pull air in from a metal 'stove' around the exhaust manifold in chilly weather; though I havent seen it on lots of late model cars.
My 90 VW Jetta does have a sort of pleated paper tube coming from the exhuast manifold, and feeding into the bottom of the air-filter housing. It also has a vacuum controlled diaphram to select the 'warmed air' or the regular air inlet.
When you sit with the engine stopped for 5 minutes - everything under the hood gets warmed up enough for ice to melt.
So look and see if your car has such a scheme. The hose might be a feeble paperlike material, and its really common for them to be discarded the first time they get in the way.
If Im right about it, the problem would also go away if it were always below freezing (which means low humidity) or when it gets warm and dries out (also low humidity).

[*SMOKE*]

If you have a distributor cap (non coil pack ignition) you may be getting moisture in the cap. It will only take a little to make it quit running and in small amounts it can dry out on its own making it possible to start again. This comes to mind because you seem to have this problem whenever it is wet. The cap could have a crack or may not be sealing at the base. They run $15-$20 and its not a bad idea to replace it if you haven't for a while. Does it die like you shut it off, or does it spit and sputter on the way out?