After Hard Rain...won't start
 

Z31 Standard

This is the second weekend where there was HARD rain..and after 2 days of sitting (I parked on Friday got in on Sunday) she will turn over but will not catch. Last time it was nice and sunny and she dried out and then ran fine..Today is overcast and she is still not starting.

Is it bad wires? I sprayed some WD40 on the wires but no help. Battery is fine..turns over but does not catch. NEVER had this problem before in all my Z years (going on 25)

Thx

Hi Donn, I would pull one of the front spark plugs, that are easy to get to and put it back into its plug boot and hold the end of the spark plug up against the head to get a good ground and then crank the engine over to see if the spark plug gives a strong blue spark. If there is no spark or it is a very weak spark, then you are having electrical issues. One test I have done on may occasions is to have someone turn over the engine while you are watching under the hood for "stray" sparks. Do this when it is dark outside and if there are stray sparks they will show up. Most of the time this will be around or along the spark plug wires or at or on the distributor cap. I would take off the cap and look for spider cracks in the cap itself. Look at the metal plates where the rotor discharges electrical pulses from the coil, through the metal plates, and out to the spark plugs through the wires. These can become oxidized with a white/gray/black coating which acts as a resistance to the current flow. A quick check can be to scrap this material off those plates, down to the base metal and try the spark plug check again. If there is a lot of corrosion, a new cap is in order. Moisture can cause faults with ignition parts that are old and not up to spec. Good Luck and let me know what you find out. Thanks, Bob