My wife's 96 cabrio tends to have trouble starting from cold when it's wet outside.
I checked and it does get spark. The spark is the same (strength/color) as when it's dry (I checked a few days later when it wasn't wet outside). Occasionally, and sometimes when this wet-starting problem shows up, the clock gets reset. But not the radio (it's the type that'd require a code were power removed from it).
The car otherwise starts fine when it's not wet outside. The wet starting problem occurs regardless of temperature, it'll have trouble on a wet summer morning or recent fall mornings.
I checked and the coil nor the wires are arcing anywhere. The wires are about two months old, as are the plugs and this problem existed before they were replaced.
The symptoms of the wet starting problem are that it just won't 'catch' unless the throttle's wide open for at least a few minutes of cranking. Since it's fuel injected I can't easily tell if there's gas being delivered or not. We recently had the oxygen sensor replaced and the intake cleaned.
So I'm starting to wonder if there's someplace that moisture has gotten into that might be causing both the starting problem and the interruption of power to the clock. Before I take this to the $stealership again I'd like to get a heads up on other things to check. I have no interest in paying them to bug hunt irrelevant issues.
Thanks,
-Bill Kearney