'97 corolla having trouble starting after rain

[Ranger X]

Hey guys. I'm reposting this here for my friend who is on another forum (not a car related one). He's having trouble with his corolla, so I figured this would be the best place to ask.

"So it rained a lot yesterday...torrential downpours, deluges of death, ravaging rainfall, etc. As a result of this my car is having issues....


I drive a 97 Toyota Corolla w/129k on it, never had any major problems in the 6 years I've had her, and a few months ago after a week of rain I was driving just fine, stopped at a red light, and the engine started to sputter and died. I was low on gas but still was able to start her up again and pull to the cub and fetch some gas. I noticed that when the engine would idle the car would cough a bit and stall out. After adding the gas and holding the gas pedal down while in neutral (she's automatic, so automatic) for about 5 minutes she seemed to be fine again. No problems until recently, when it rained again....I'm forced to switch to neutral and keep administering gas while braking with my left foot else the car will stall out. Sometimes she doesn't even start for a good 4-5 seconds of ignition. I notice that I smell a LOT of gas when I try to start the car up...

Any clues? I'm surprised the rain has this effect on the car..."

I suggested that it might be a leak in a fuel line somewhere, but I don't know. Someone else suggested that it might be the catylitic converter. Any other ideas?

[94_Rolla_Guy]

the ignition coils can have a tendency to delaminate and basically give weird moisture related problems, i would do a resistance test on the coil, also in dry weather try genlty wetting the distributor (coil inside) and see if you get the wonky rough running....

[REN69]

Sounds like you have a cracked or loose cap, replace your cap and rotor and you should be ok.

I had a similar problem before, turned out the cap was loose and it would only cause a problem when it rained.

[thespud]

I second the cracked or loose cap. Try this first, then go with the delaminating theory...

[toyotaspeed90]

actually i second the coil..... having a cracked or loose cap isn't going to cause the car to sputter and die... then not start after just rain....

the internals of the dizzy are electric... but based on pulses sent the the ecu from magnets reading how many revolutions the dizzy has made..... water doesn't affect the magnetism of them

however, increased condensation can cause problems with epoxy based coils (like all toyota dizzy-internal coils are). After time condensation can cause misses or not starting...