Car dies in bad weather.

[NovaLad]

Reet when it was absolutely chucking it down around january time i was out in the nova and was just going down a main road minding my own business drivign through the watery road when my car started to die.

Obviously because their was that much water about it got into the underside of my engine.

This is starting to do my head in now as i went out 30 mins ago and it's really bad again and has been all day went down the road outside my house again to test the new clocks and next thing you know car dies again so on with the hazards and takes me about 15 mins in on a main roundabout to get it started.

Does anybody elses nova do this as it's doing my head in.

Also if the car has been left out in the rain for about 2 hours or so i'll go to it and it won't start and take me ages to get going, even though it's just been sat there.

All the leads etc... are dry and so is the underside of the car yet still is a pain in the a$$

Does anyone get this problem aswell?

My bay is pretty solid so can'd see it coming from somewhere unusual.

[Adam]

Rain/Damp in the dizzy/coil

[Dar]

Rip

[draper]

can i have the front bumper when you break it

[NovaLad]

It's not being broke :S

[Mike]

Peirburg carb by anychance?

2E3's do it all the time, its the autochoke module thats funked. Pictured here. The silver dome shaped thing with the black rubber hose ocming of it (hose goes to centre lower of picture)

http://www.cowbie.biz/car/16.jpg

Mine on my old SR funked up, i went to Vauxhall and got the choke unit, they told me it was the last one left in the UK at that time (that was over 3 years ago)

[Jack]

Isn't novalad's a manual choke though?

[Mike]

Dunno, if its an auto choke the aforementiond will be the culprit

[AlexW]

i thought it was SPI?

[Welsh Dan]

On a dry day, clean all of the electrical terminals then apply dielectric grease to keep any moisture out, then replace your gearbox earth strap just incase.

[Jack]

i thought it was SPI?
DVLA:
Cylinder Capacity (cc) 1196CC

So its carbed, which means manual choke.

[Dod]

Its a slim chance that the rain waters gotten into your block throuh the Drive ends. If this is the case, its turned the oil creamey and High Fat. Its possible when the engine gets cold that the creame thickens and makes it stop.

Honest, I'm not joking!!

Get the engine warmed up, then spray inside and around the dizzy, rotor arm, leads and the plugs. Get a tin of Carb Cleaner and give it a wosh as well.

Also, shouldnt this be in Mechancial??

[draper]

CG will be happy lol

[Mike]

If the breather stack rubber hose is blocked up with gunk this will also cause random engine cutting out.

[NovaLad]

When it was left out in the rain that morning it did the same and wouldn't start so sprayed the leads/dizzi with WD40 and it worked.

Yes it's manual choke allthough it only works when it's pulled out about quarter way.

Otherwise if pulled out all the way it will just chug and then die.

[Jack]

Otherwise if pulled out all the way it will just chug and then die.
Because it will overfuel with the choke fully out (or closed, depending on how you look at it lol). I don't think I ever had to use full choke on either of my old 1.2s, even when starting from cold.

Do you know how a choke works? (thats not sarcasm btw, a genuine question lol)

[NovaLad]

Don't know technicily no.

Know it helps to get the car warm in the mornings lol.

[Welsh Dan]

It makes the hole the air hoes through smaller, so the air moves faster, and makes the mixture richer, it helps the car run until warm.

[slim23]

Hi mate did u check to make sure thair is no dampness down the back of the bulkhead getting in to the ecu or that the crank sensor isint on its way out thats the way my corsa was carrying on and the first time it happind it was dampness getting into the ecu then the second time it was the cranksensor u'd be suprised hope this helps

[ck]

slim its worth reading through the thread... its a csarb engine so will not have any form of crank sensor or ecu. only a pickup inside the dizzy..

if you have a spare dizzy or can borrow one give that a try, the moisture might be affecting the pickup inside..

[NovaLad]

My dads mate has suggested getting 1 of these..

http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/885/20099305.JPG

Cutting off the fingers half way and putting it over the dizzy cap and feed HT leads through the finger holes.

Wallah! no more moist... Maybe.

[mikey14sr]

That's an old trick that was used a lot on mini's, their dizzy's pointed at the front grille and had quite a problem with moisture getting in. How old are the leads, cap and arm though? may be that the insulation on the leads has simply broken down through age.

[NovaLad]

Will the glove thing work then?

I don't know exactly how old they are but they aint that old lol.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i319/MD_Crew/DSC02138.jpg

[AlexW]

More pic whoring? lol But if in doubt replace them

[mikey14sr]

That king lead (the one from the coil to the dizzy) is way too long for a start, and No4 lead looks like it's hanging down ready to be chopped up by the cooling fan.

One way to check if the leads are breaking down is to run the engine with the bonnet open when it's pitch black, and use a plant sprayer to mist water over the leads, if there's any blue flashes showing up along them, or the engine tries to cut out when you spray water onto the leads, then they need changing.

[S1M0N]

My mate sometimes has this problem, there was a screw missing in the top of the wing, and when i rained the water used to run down the wing, through the hole and onto his filter . . . . solution = put the bolt back in! lol

[Leeboo]

My 1.0 has been doing this over last few days, and got really bad today. Wouldn't restart.

I found the cause this evening, it was shorted wires on the part of the loom near the wiper motor, they are badly damaged and so I have to trace the wires to their location and find out why it happened.

Just something to consider.:thumb: