water problem

[Cr1028]

I'm new and am not very mechanically inclined so bear with me. My 81 K5 wants to quit when I accelerate in or right after being in water. Could water be getting into my gas tank or what? It drives fine after it dries for a little while. Any help is greatly appreciated.

81 K5

 

[SlyDog]

Im not very technical either but maybe it got into your air intake how deep of water are you gettin into maybe build a snorkel out of pvc?

SlyDog

 

[reddog64]

check your distributor cap for water...


Um... yes officer I know it's too big...

 

[tRustyK5]

I agree with Reddog, check your distributor for water inside the cap. Sometimes the fan will blow the water all over the distributor if its deep enough or if your going fast enough.
Body lifts tend to aggravate this because of the gap created between the inner fender and the frame.
Slow and steady for water crossings is usually the best insurance against this problem.

Rene

 

[tom]

Yeah, it's likely ignition. The distributor cap is the first place to look, but even if you don't see the water, even a microscopic crack will cauuse problems when it gets wet. Second, check all the ignition wiring and the coil.

 

[HarryH3]

How old are the plug wires? When they get real old they can start to get tiny cracks in the insulation. Get a bit of water on them and the spark will start to arc to the engine instead of going to the plugs.

Open your hood in a really dark place and look under the hood. If your eyes are adjusted to the darkness you can actually see the sparks dancing around on the wires if they're bad. I looked under the hood of one of my K5's many years ago that was running kind of rough. The wires had a purple corona around them, with occasional zaps to the valve covers. Looked like St. Elmo's Fire! New plug wires made it run MUCH better.

<font color=black>HarryH3 - '75 K5</font color=black>
http://ThunderTruck.ColoradoK5.com