sputtering in the rain 91 camry

is your distributor cap on tight, see if it wiggles, could be the coil under the cap, is there a gasket on the cap.

It seems tight, but there is no gasket under the cap nor silicone. I will check it though. THanks

Did you replace it, or did you pay someone. A new gasket is always used.

I replacedthe distributor cap myself and there was no gasket in the kit. I will put on the silicone this time and make sure the cap is very tight and hopefully that will solve my problem.

silicone isnt to good an idea, you will never get it off. go back to the store tell them a gasket wasnt in the box

Here's a copy of the message, posted by 'Fred' on August 18 in this newsgroup. Maybe it applies to your car?

Luc K

Here's a classic problem with older camrys. The car starts fine and may run okay for a few minutes. But then as it starts to warm up, it begins hesitating on acceleration and/or stalling at stoplights. When it is fully warmed up the behavior goes away. The problem is usually worse after a rain or in humid weather. Once it starts happening, it gets more severe over a matter of weeks.

This one baffles mechanics, who wind up replacing a series of expensive parts, all to no avail. Ironically, the true fix is very easy and cheap.

'90 Camrys (as well as several years before and several years after-I'm not sure of the exact range of years) have the coil inside the distributor-a bad idea. I don't know when they stopped doing that. When the engine starts, it exudes moisture (a product of combustion). The moisture condenses on all surfaces inside the distributor. That's okay when the car is newish, because distilled water is not conductive. But when the car is older it has a fine film of debri coating all surfaces. When those surfaces get wet they conduct electricity and the primary coil shorts out. Then when the car fully warms up, the sufaces are dry again.

The fix is to use isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) and cotton balls or Q-tips to clean all the surfaces inside the distributor. Take off the distributor cap and the black plastic shroud that covers the coil (snaps off and snaps back on). Clean everything with liberal amounts of alcohol. Don't worry if it drips all over-it drys without harm. Don't be discouraged if you don't see a lot of dirt on the cotton, were' talking trace amounts here. Give special attention to the coil wires. Also clean the inside and outside of the distributor cap while you're at it. You'll be amazed. You'll have to do this every couple of years now.

-- Fred

Putting the coil inside the distributor is a good idea. Eliminates a coil wire, shields coil from water, and is one less component to assemble under the hood when the car is built.

An engine does not "exude moisture" into the distributor housing. Good grief. So how did -distilled- get inside the distributor? Unbelieveable.

Debris? From where? The caps have an O-ring around the base of the cap and some have a vent with baffles to vent ozone.

Why would the surfaces inside the cap get wet? Who determined the primary coil windings are the ones that get "shorted?" The coil is a "potted" unit .... pretty much impervious to outside conditions. The secondary (high voltage) delivery terminal is exposed, quite obviously to the rotor. Moisture on the outside of the coil will conduct electricity from the secondary terminal to ground.

Where did the moisture go?

This is odd. Isopropyl alcohol is 30% WATER.

It would be more to the point to ensure the sealing ring between the cap and the distributor housing is sealing and that the cap is not warped (allowing humidity past even a good O-ring). Isopropyl alcohol is not the optimum moisture removal agent. Visit an electronics store for residue and water free "contact cleaner."

In news: snipped-for-privacy@storefull-2178.public.lawson.webtv.net, mark Ransley being of bellicose mind posted:

I've used silicone DIELECTRIC grease between the cap and the distributor housing (years ago) and around the primary wire where it entered the housing on slant six mopars. Those engines had the distributor in the WORST place imaginable with respect to getting wet. I did try silicone sealer on the cap once .... needed a small slide hammer with a hook to get the cap off the following spring. But no more drowned distributors!