No start condition when it's raining.

[Raybz]

Hi there folks!

First off my mechanical talents lend them self mostly to Jeeps offroading and suspentions

I have a '95 Areostar 3.0L. Here's my problem, kinda long

I live in Chicago area and when the Blizzard hit I went out and the van wouldn't start. When I opened the hood there was about 3 inches of snow in there...well there's the problem Pushed the van up by the garage, after I moved the snow from in front of the door, Got out my torpedo heater and melted the snow and dried it out and viola it started after a bit or cranking/swearing. Thought that was that, I was wrong

A few weeks later we got hit by bad rain, went out and no start again! Let it sit a few days and it started again. Found that the weatherstripping on the driver's side was askew and thought that rain was getting under the bonnet there and dripping onto the EMC connector. Fixed that and again thought that was that. Wrong again!

Next time it rained no start again! This time it was warmer out (still raining) and a Saturday so I had time to really delve into it. BTW No MIL thru any of this! Checked the coil, all good. Cleaned the dist cap, all good. Checked for spark, all good. I can smell gas so I checked the fuel rail, all ok. Took off the air box, noticed that the air filter was pretty dirty so I tried starting it with the cover off and it burped! After a little more cranking it started.

Been running it with the filter modified for now. I took off the paper and am just running the foam part. So far so good. However I have been parking in the garage when I think it's going to rain.

Y'all think all the problems were from the filter or should I look at the MAFS as well? Can the MAFS be cleaned?

Thanks for any suggestions

-Mik

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! Clean the MAF sensor, replace the air filter, and install new spark plugs & cables.

 

[wood1]

BB is right, likely plug wires (pointing to lack of tune up for some time). If you spray your plug wires with a water/salt mixture and crank it or do it while it is already running (in the dark) you will likely see a light show.

 

[Raybz]

UPDATE!

Did a full tune-up Plugs, wires, cap rotor. When doing the drivers side back plug I noticed that one of the vac lines was cracked and cut. Not sure if I knocked it off while trying to get my meathooks back there but it was off none the less. Van seems to be running just like on TV now Even left it out in the rain for 2 days

I checked the gap on the old plugs and not one was less then .070 Wires tested ok by Ohms, but I still think there was cross talk/ grounding

Thanks guys!

 

[Varsity]

Good to know you got it fixed! This forum has everything.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Thanks for the update!

 

[treb]

Hi there folks!

First off my mechanical talents lend them self mostly to Jeeps offroading and suspentions

I have a '95 Areostar 3.0L. Here's my problem, kinda long

I live in Chicago area and when the Blizzard hit I went out and the van wouldn't start. When I opened the hood there was about 3 inches of snow in there...well there's the problem Pushed the van up by the garage, after I moved the snow from in front of the door, Got out my torpedo heater and melted the snow and dried it out and viola it started after a bit or cranking/swearing. Thought that was that, I was wrong

A few weeks later we got hit by bad rain, went out and no start again! Let it sit a few days and it started again. Found that the weatherstripping on the driver's side was askew and thought that rain was getting under the bonnet there and dripping onto the EMC connector. Fixed that and again thought that was that. Wrong again!

Next time it rained no start again! This time it was warmer out (still raining) and a Saturday so I had time to really delve into it. BTW No MIL thru any of this! Checked the coil, all good. Cleaned the dist cap, all good. Checked for spark, all good. I can smell gas so I checked the fuel rail, all ok. Took off the air box, noticed that the air filter was pretty dirty so I tried starting it with the cover off and it burped! After a little more cranking it started.

Been running it with the filter modified for now. I took off the paper and am just running the foam part. So far so good. However I have been parking in the garage when I think it's going to rain.

Y'all think all the problems were from the filter or should I look at the MAFS as well? Can the MAFS be cleaned?

Thanks for any suggestions

-Mik

had same problem on my 93 wont start when wet changed plug wires and plugs no more problems