tehcarguy

Yesterday, when driving my vette around town it was running great. Then the heavens opened up (even though the weatherman said they wouldn't) and it was raining pretty heavily. Then the inevitable drip on my right knee started. Got half way home, then my manager called me and told me I left with the office keys. Had to go back. So I wasn't having a good night, and to make it worse, the engine started missing. I don't know if it was caused by the rain, I didn't find any water in the intake when I got home. I'm off tomorrow, so hopefully I can figure out what went wrong. Any advice from you guys would be appreciated.

92WhiteVetteGuy

tehcarguy, What year LT1 & mileage?
Sounds like the Opti-Spark?
Is it the original distributor & spark plug wires?
More info needed?

tehcarguy

Duh, sorry forgot to mention that. It's actually an 86. I just rebuilt the distributor less than 1k miles ago, new plugs, new fuel filter and pump.

sailorsteve

Sounds like a plug wire shorting, due to being wet. Did the miss go away when the car dried out?

tehcarguy

I don't know, I'm about to go for a ride in it in a few mins since it's dry and sunny today. That's one thing I didn't do is replace the wires.

tehcarguy

Still missing even though everything is dry...gonna check all ignition stuff later.

94vettelover2

My guess is bad ignition wires or water/moisture inside the distributor cap.If you need help determining how to find the misfire,just ask & I'll write a detailed description

sailorsteve

With the engine idling, pull one spark plug wire at a time, using a plug wire pliers. A cylinder that is firing will cause the rpm to drop when that wire is pulled. A cylinder that is not firing will not change the way the engine is running. You may have one or more plugs not firing. Also, as suggested, there may be moisture inside the dist. cap. But, IMO, plug wires are more likely the cause. How old are they?

onedef92

If you've got more than 60,000 miles on those wires, they're shot. I'd replace with new 7 or 8 .mm premium performance wires or the O.E.M. Delco/Packard wires.

tehcarguy

It's running fine now. There was just a little water in the tank. There is something I noticed before this happened, the gas gauge is getting stuck half way down. it will go up when I fill it, but when the tank is half empty, it gets stuck again.

sailorsteve

If the water got into the tank from the rainstorm you mentioned, you should address that right away. Ethanol blended gas will absorb a little moisture, but water in the tank will do expensive damage to the fuel system.

tehcarguy

That's been taken care of. The gauge is still acting crazy though.