V6 running bad/spluttering and hard to start when damp

[V6dave]

Hi guys,

I have had this beautiful car for about a year now with no problems, but recently it has started running bad...what i mean is that the fuel delivery is not constant and it does not accelerate smoothly, it kind of splutters and occassionally I hear a 'pop' from the exhaust. it seems to get better if you drive it for longer and if you really give it some gas to 'clean it out'.

Also, it is very difficult to start in damp weather, but normally starts afterabou 15mins of trying, however, yesteday it wouldn't start after trying for half an hour...which ran the battery flat and then trying to jump start it it still wouldn't go. I left it for half an hour an eventually got it started, but just as it started the entire car died, no power at all; which I have found to be the main 100A fuse in the engine bay - it melted!

The last bit of info I can give you is that when I drive through big puddles of water i lose power until the water has been cleaned out of wherever i is getting in! and the car is normally ok again within about 5mins.

Could the spluttering/hard starting problem be the fuel filter? or fuel pump?

Any info would be very much apprciated.


Cheers!

Dave

[_-Night-Shade-_]

I don't think fuel delivery is the issue. My guess would be that the water is causing a short somewhere in the ignition system, I would check to make sure the disty cap is on tight so that no moisture is getting in, that all plug wires are snug, no fuses/electrical wiring is exposed, stuff like that. It's odd that driving through a puddle would also cause it as there's nothing too significant at the bottom of the engine, unless it's such a huge puddle that it splashes everything...

[V6dave]

Thanks for the reply

Well yes, by puddle i meant masses of water collected on the road...i live in the countryside you see and so the water has no run-off on the small lanes around here so there is a LOT of wate that splashes up under the car

Oh yeah? I'll have a check that the disty cap is on tight and that everything else is firmly in place tomorrow. Do you think that could be causing it? It has been doing this every day for the past few months now though and it hasn't been damp all the time.

[_-Night-Shade-_]

I'm just going by what's happened to my dad's corolla in the past. On really damp mornings it would not start because there was moisture shorting out the disty, turned out the rubber seal on the cap was gone. New disty cap fixed that up.

[tripleMX-3chicMS]

my GS did the same thing. Turned out to be cap and plugs. No problems since replaced.

[msd-supermx3]

If ya say it looses power after the puddle, maybe u got a vacuum leak or something. My story was that i had water coming through the intake right close to the cylinders, ended up being the IM gasket to the motor. Just a point....