My 90 renix xj refuses to start during a soaking rainstorm. At first I thought it was an isolated incident, because it always starts right up. But now, its happened 3 or 4 times. I hope its just a cap and wires thing. I was wondering if this has happened to anybody else here and what the problem was?

 

Happened to me on several cars throughout the years. It was ALWAYS something ignition/spark related. Whether it was a harness that moisture had crept into or just the wires getting to much moisture on them.

Even on non rain soaked days -just maybe a drizzle but a real wet 24hrs ( just damp/humid/cloudy) and not driving things would happen when I went to start them.

The last was on my Mazda MPV that all of a sudden wouldn't start on ANY damp days but would crank right up on dry ones -but did have a miss when it did. Plugs-wires-coil-with plenty of dielectric grease on all electrical connections solved that.

 

Agree with above. Start with wires, cap, rotor. Then see where you are at.

Moisture related issues like this are generally related to secondary ignition equipment. (tuneup hardware).