2 replies to this topic

[David Way]

Model: 1.3i Mayfair
Year: 1994
Description of problem (please be as in depth as possible): Novice very confused. Was driving in the rain yesterday ( usually no problems ) suddenly power dropped like it was firing weak on 2-3 pistons, I was pretty sure the distributor got wet so cralwed to the side of the road opened the bonnet and had a look. I saw about 3 drop on one of the leads. My mini has one of the covers that goes almost all the way under the engine. Any the leads look in good condition. Dried it with tissue, got home and let it run. Sounded fine now. Went to drop a mate home an hour ago in it started lashing rain. Straight away same problem. Got to his gaff ( just ) we put one of the plastic container from a take-away over the distributor cap and and ran her idle til it dried off. Drove home, engine felt like it was on at 80-90% chugging and dropping power now and then. Was thinking of just spraying a can of WD40 all over it, that would keep it the water out, wouldn't it? From my limited knoledge everything looks ok I ve had trouble with wiring in the car before but it was because of my fuse box. Just lost my job, got no cash. Was hoping i could fix this with silicone or something without making a mess of my engine bay. Kind of out of my depth a little, any suggestions or advice is appriciated. Anyone else had this problem?

[dklawson]

I would have expected the full cover your engine has would do a better job protecting things. There is no harm in spraying WD-40 on things to dry it out, but you don't need to soak things. With the engine off, spray the WD-40 on the wires and distributor cap. Use a paper towel to wipe off the excess. Wipe the outside of the dizzy cap carefully making sure to get between the high tension leads. Make it look like new. Take the cap off the dizzy and use a CLEAN dry towel or tissue to wipe the inside of the cap. Put it back on and refit the plastic container upside down over the dizzy as a second layer of protection. When you have more money, consider replacing the spark plug leads if they are more than a few years old.

[David Way]

Thank you brother. Ill give it a clean in the morning. The leads look good to me but probably no harm replacing them. Do you think the water is coming in through the grill or bouncing up off the ground?