MikePA

We had heavy rain last Sunday during the day followed by below freezing temps and 3 inches of snow at night. Went to start my '99 (105,000 miles) Monday morning (it sits outside) and while it cranked as fast as ever, it would not start. When I got home from work in the afternoon (no rain or snow during the day), it started fine. I passed it off as something got frozen and it thawed during the day.

Last night we had more rain, no snow or freezing temps, and the car would not start this morning, same symptoms. Since it's still raining, I have not tried again.

Any ideas?

01tl4tl

go have the battery and charging system tested- free at parts stores
My 01 with a 5 year old costco batt has been slower to start recently,
and picked up that alternating side low beam quits while driving but comes on with cycle of switch
dont know if related yet

tested at 335 cranking amps = 61% of normal
replaced and its much better!!! right volts and alt output does wonders

thats general info for all- Its time to get the batt tested after a hard winters use- that can wipe them out

For your problem:
Look under our hood for moisture signs on fuse block areas, remove covers and ck

Driveabilty gurus..kris,,acuratech1 what do you think?

01tl4tl

in general: spark plugs replaced? ngk?
105 tbelt wp service done?

ck rubber seal on gas cap, parts store can also pressure test for you

MikePA

Battery is 2 years old. Cranking speed is fast. Plugs replaced with NGKs last summer. Timing belt was replaced 4 years ago. I will check under the hood tomorrow plus check the gas cap. BTW, no check engine light, no codes. I have an Actron scan tool I could use but not sure what that'd show.

01tl4tl

you never know what codes may be there--use the tools you have!
cel doesnt trigger for everything~

Cranking speed and cranking amps are different- I thought my baby was cranking plenty fast,,but not amps according to the machine,,which was correct in the end

batt 2 years old may have a problem,, believe it or not-
2-3 years in now average battery life!!- especially if you leave the box cover on and it cant breathe in the hot engine compartment

doesnt cost anything but a little gas to run to a parts store for testing
good batt may still hide bad alt...test will tell all

best to eliminate all possibles even if odd- then you have baseline of whats left after the main items test good

ngk iridium or platinum?--the 8 buck each plugs,, not the 2 bucks plugs correct?

general maitenance: ever seafoam it thru gas and manifold vac port?
just narrowing potential probs

01tl4tl

will your scanner do running voltage test- show parameters for things while in motion,
or just download codes?

MikePA

$8 plugs. I had them installed last summer when my mechanic cleaned the intake manifold and installed the Outlaw Engineering kit. The scanner can do more than read and reset codes, but I'm not sure what else. I'm going to look at a 2005 RL tomorrow, so that might solve my problem, too.

01tl4tl

a slightly more expensive solution,,, but effective!!

I am stumped--fellow Band members--anyone??

totaledTL

Maybe it's a fuel or main relay- just coincidental that it's happened twice during rain?

friesm2000

iTrader: (4)

i have seen a vehicle without a gas cap, actually get water in the gas tank every time it rained basically, cause of how the body was shaped, and with how water like to hook around courners

basically when the water would run down the side of the body, it would hit that edge above the fuel filler, and basically hook right into the filler ; was not a whole lot of water, but more then enough to cause issues though (especially if say it froze up in the fuel lines)





buy yeah OP, more then likely something is getting wet, that should not be getting wet, the issue is trying to find it though....

MikePA

Well, I traded it in on the 2005 RL. I kind of hated to, I had the '99 for almost 7 years but the prospect of debugging this problem ipped the scales in favor of replacing, not repairing.

friesm2000

iTrader: (4)

you wanna send me those front calipers off of the RL...

01tl4tl

is that your Jedi mind trick fries? You WANT to send me your RL calipers!!!

MikePA

Sure, I'll still have the rear calipers.

friesm2000

iTrader: (4)

lol, no the front will just do...