my car has been hard to start within the last two weeks with all of this rain 1998 legacy 2.5gt 153xxx miles new spark plugs 149xxx new wires 150xxx no cel caused by this either. only a p0420 from my borla headers. no problems with any of the electrical/ignition system at all until it started to rain these past two weeks. when its dry, i get no problems what so ever, even when ive been running the car for a while, and i come out to start it when the engine is still semi hot there is no issue. it clearly has something to do with moisture in the ignition system. my hoodscoop guard is taken off so water theoretically could get inside to my engine bay, however, the open space only goes behind my intake box so its not hovering over my coilpack or anything. one it starts it runs sort of rough for only a moment, but not enough to jolt and shake the car like a hard cylinder misfire typically would. after i give it some gas in neutral the high (1,500rpms tops) idle goes away. anyone have any ideas? i will be more than happy to answer any questions you guys might have to help me solve this issue.
You could try when dry out, use a spray bottle or a garden hose and spray water slightly at your coil packs. Then have someone crank it while you check for any arcing at the coil packs.
Ignore it until it gets worse. You'll just be chasing a ghost trying to pin this down with the minor symptoms, imho.
do you have a cold air intake that could be getting wet and sucking moisyre into the engine? if it is the igniton get some Dielectric grease and put it in the ends of your plug wires and see if that helps.
I had the same issue with my 94 T-leg. I replaced the plugs and wires and lubed them up with dielectric grease but sometimes still had issues. My next step was to pull my IAC and clean it off. That made the biggest difference. I still have this happen on occasion but usually cleaning off the IAC makes the problem go away.
alright thanks guys. i will try the dielectric grease, and the iac sensor. seems easy enough. this problem is acting like a little annoying pest.
I wouldn't worry about your hoodscoop being open. Everything under the hood gets wet when you drive in the rain either way. I think Greg means cleaning out the IAC valve, which seem to get sticky once in a while.
oh i thought the iac was a sensor that got wet.. is the iac valve that wastegate looking thing in my engine?
Didn't I point your IACV out to you one time? It's right where the throttle body thingy connects to the intake manifold doo-hickey. If it's stickin, it can cause wandering/hunting idle issues. Removal is awfully easy (might need a new gasket. Mine didn't, but different ones are .. um .. different). Clean it by blasting it with brake cleaner or soaking it in Seafoam.
you helped me find it on the phone.. now i know what it is. but whats the wastegate looking thing in my engine then?
Yes. This. Also hit your MAF with some MAF cleaner. If de-gunking my IAC valve doesn't work cleaning the MAF does. MAF = no likey H2O
