Hey folks, a bit on an odd situation. Long one here. My cruiser has been sitting in Sonoma county under a car cover for about 6 months unused (I know, horrible, but I have had nowhere closeby to keep it.) Anyways, yesterday after cranking it for a while it started rough, but started. I pulled the throttle pull a bit and let it warm up on its own. I ran it for about half an hour and eventually took it to the gas station and filled it up. It needed a battery pack starter every time but started just fine every time after that initial start. It also ran great. The plan was to drive it back to SF today and take it to the shop tomorrow for some work. I'm obviously not meeting that deadline. AAA denied my tow request because the tags expired end of Jan.
Starting last night, throughout the night, and day today it rained. Heavily. When I tried to start the cruiser it cranked forever but never started. Sometimes I noticed when I released the key after cranking it would "want" to start. As if a few cylinders were firing off but then would stop. Fuses are good. Spark is there, you can smell fuel but it just won't start. I removed the dizzy, sprayed some of that dizzy spray in there to no avail. The scary thing is that the cruiser is in flood zone and needs to get out of there soon. It's not going to flood this week or possibly not at all so I have a bit of time but the anxiety is killing me and I need it out of there. Worst case scenario I'll tow it to a hill above flood stage but wanna try and tackle this myself. I'll be heading back to Sonoma county tomorrow after work to give it another go. I'll be staying until Thursday. The rain is stopping after tomorrow and we'll be getting some warmer weather so that's working in my favor.
After looking online I saw a few things that "could" be a cuprit.
1. Cold start injector - When I started it yesterday it was not raining and had been under a cover but took forever to start. Hmm... seems possible. Could a bad cold start injector prevent it from starting at all if the "right" conditions are present? In the 4 years I drove it as a daily it NEVER failed to start right away. It never sat for 6 months though. I started it once during the summerer months for a few minutes and it started right up.
2. Grounding issues - This is one scares me. A grounding problem could be pretty much anywhere but can be exacerbated due to moisture. I hate chasing ground issues.
What makes me think it's a grounding issue is that even though it was under a cover the air still has a ton of moisture in it, however it was just dry enough yesterday to overcome. The thing I don't get is why it sounds like "wants" to start when I stop cranking.
I'm tempted to bring up a little floor space heater and wedge it between the hood and radiator and just let it do its thing drying the engine bay and then giving it a go. Would this be ill advised? I tried using a leaf blower to move water away from all the electrical connections I could see. Might be crazy but I was desperate.
I also can't remember if there was a distributor cap gasket. There should be, right? I might just pick one up for the hell of it.
What are your thoughts? Heeeelp! Thanks in advance!
Starting last night, throughout the night, and day today it rained. Heavily. When I tried to start the cruiser it cranked forever but never started. Sometimes I noticed when I released the key after cranking it would "want" to start. As if a few cylinders were firing off but then would stop. Fuses are good. Spark is there, you can smell fuel but it just won't start. I removed the dizzy, sprayed some of that dizzy spray in there to no avail. The scary thing is that the cruiser is in flood zone and needs to get out of there soon. It's not going to flood this week or possibly not at all so I have a bit of time but the anxiety is killing me and I need it out of there. Worst case scenario I'll tow it to a hill above flood stage but wanna try and tackle this myself. I'll be heading back to Sonoma county tomorrow after work to give it another go. I'll be staying until Thursday. The rain is stopping after tomorrow and we'll be getting some warmer weather so that's working in my favor.
After looking online I saw a few things that "could" be a cuprit.
1. Cold start injector - When I started it yesterday it was not raining and had been under a cover but took forever to start. Hmm... seems possible. Could a bad cold start injector prevent it from starting at all if the "right" conditions are present? In the 4 years I drove it as a daily it NEVER failed to start right away. It never sat for 6 months though. I started it once during the summerer months for a few minutes and it started right up.
2. Grounding issues - This is one scares me. A grounding problem could be pretty much anywhere but can be exacerbated due to moisture. I hate chasing ground issues.
What makes me think it's a grounding issue is that even though it was under a cover the air still has a ton of moisture in it, however it was just dry enough yesterday to overcome. The thing I don't get is why it sounds like "wants" to start when I stop cranking.
I'm tempted to bring up a little floor space heater and wedge it between the hood and radiator and just let it do its thing drying the engine bay and then giving it a go. Would this be ill advised? I tried using a leaf blower to move water away from all the electrical connections I could see. Might be crazy but I was desperate.
I also can't remember if there was a distributor cap gasket. There should be, right? I might just pick one up for the hell of it.
What are your thoughts? Heeeelp! Thanks in advance!
