Hey guys, I need help!! I have a 1994 f150 5.0. Whenever it rains it has a hard time starting. It doesn’t do it every time. If I park in the garage and go to town when it’s raining it seems to be fine but if it sits out in the rain for several hours it won’t start. When I take it to car washes it sputters and sometimes dies. What I’ve replaced: cap & rotor, distributor, plugs & wires, and ignition modular. And advice would be appreciated

 

There is a seal that is on the firewall that keeps water from going into the engine bay when the hood is closed. See if the lip has broken off. If so, you will need to replace it.

 

The hood seal is to keep engine air IN the engine bay - not to keep water out, which it can't do anyway because of all the rain that comes through the radiator, and sprays up from the road.

Define "hard starting". Do you mean the starter doesn't spin? Or it doesn't spin full-speed? Or it doesn't engage the engine? Or the engine doesn't try to fire? Or it tries, but fails? Be specific & thorough.

 

I would use a garden hose on a light mist and slowly begin to wet down the engine in small areas at a time and see if the engine begins to run poorly. You didn't mention the coil and that is where I would start. You can do this at night to try this on secondary ignition components and watch for the light show. Since you state "it sputters and sometimes dies", I am assuming it cranks and has starting and run problems not cranking.

 

Did anyone find thie fix for this? As I am having the same issues... My selinoid got wet along with battery and everything in that general area from a blowing rain storm two days ago. Will it dry out and work again or do I need to replace starter selinoid? I can get it to start now but as Im driving it cuts off sometimes I can put into N and start again but as long as im not hitting bumps itll stay running.

 

Suggest in your case, the solenoid is fine if you're getting it to rollover and start afterward. Should be a reasonably sealed unit, would only be concerned if there were cracks in the casing or such.

The cutting off issue can be many things, and intermittent problems are tough to catch.

Opinions will vary but for mine - consider popping the distributor cap to ensure things are dry in there, no moisture beads on the cap, and dry on down. Then, would try to simulate these bumps around various higher probability components, like strongly tapping and thumping in the area - further suggesting ignition switch on top of the steering column above the brake pedal area, the TFI module outside the distributor, the PIP module inside the distributor (thump on the dizzy body itself), and the coil - in that order.

Could be something else, but gots to start eliminating stuff until you find it.

 

I had a long problem (I'll see if I can find the thread) with my 1995 F150 that would stall out after running it through a car wash. I tried everything including completely disconnecting my MSD ignition system, but it finally turned out to be the PIP inside the distributor. BTW, the MSD ignition system is still disconnected... Doesn't really seem to make much difference.


Thread was:
https://www.f150forum.com/f93/95-f150-xlt-got-wet-stalled-wont-run-462740/

Note my username was different then. Not sure how that happened.

 

I6 did the same thing on mine. Turned out to be the distributor allowing moisture under the cap.