Arrgghh!!! Keeps quitting...

[69Falcon]

Well I thought I'd clean underhood today, as I'm leaking oil from the front of the block and everything is covered in sludge. So I start the motor, start spritzing with Simple Green, followed by hosing off. All the time, motor is running fine. Shut the car off and about to let it finish drip dry in the sun, when I realize I forgot to do the hood itself. Spritz with more Simple Green, hose it off, and then think to myself "I should probably have it running while I'm doing this."

Go to start the motor, and all I get is a sputter, small backfire and dies. Ok, figure I got the wires wet. Let it sit awhile, finally get it to fire, but idle is choppy and I have to rev it to keep from dying.

Pulled the distributor cap, little bit of moisture inside so I wiped it out. Still getting the same thing. Any suggestions?

 

[Anonymous]

spray some wd-40 in your dist,, then wait... been there done that, sux huh.

 

[wallaka]

There's still moisture in there. Spray WD-40 all in the cap and on the condenser and points. It'll drive the water out.

 

[69Falcon]

I'll give the WD-40 a try. No points though, I've got a Pertronix II in there.

 

[Geezer 300]

Make sure it's dry before you put it back on!!

 

[wallaka]

Make sure it's dry before you put it back on!!

Why?

 

[69Falcon]

Well, the only thing better than WD-40 on the cap would be a new cap... which I remembered I had sitting in the trunk.

Then once I realized that the backfire had popped the line from the pcv off the carb, it actually idled decently.

Nothing like wrenching on the Falcon before I go to work in the morning. Of course I was motivated: I would've been taking the motorcycle instead and it was only 43 degrees.

 

[Geezer 300]

Make sure it's dry before you put it back on!!

Why?

Never had the problem but I've had people tell me they had the cap blow off because they claim WD-40 is flammable.

 

[Bort62]

wd-40 is muy flammable.

 

[63comet]

If you don't think so, light a match and spray the wd-40 throught the flame and hold it. Like a torch.

 

[wallaka]

If you don't think so, light a match and spray the wd-40 throught the flame and hold it. Like a torch.

Oh, I know it's flammable. Didn't know it was an issue inside of distributors, though. Should have thought about it; I guess it could arc across the terminals or something.

 

[ludwig]

I guess it could arc across the terminals or something.

Maybe it's that little captive spark and flammable liquid thingy. I don't know.