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The symptoms: 245 DL 1986 B230f turns over, but no hint of firing. Spark and fuel seem fine.
The history: For some time rainwater has been a problem. After a heavy rain there has been a good chance that the car would act this way. Maybe 1/5 of the time. If it started, it ran fine. If it didn't, it was completely dead (other than turning over). Like a switch with no middle "starts with difficulty". The next day, all would be well. Water gets in and soaks the fuses and I'd always thought that was the problem but couldn't stop the leak. Luckily, we live in Southern California, where it never rains.
Now: We drove to the Bay Area (400 miles) for Christmas and back without incident. Parked in the driveway we got a LOT of rain. Supposedly 4 inches in one day & probably 8 inches in all. No start.
At first I thought this was an opportunity to finally find and fix the problem, but now I'm stuck. I've read many old (and current) No-Start topics, but nothing seems to fit. There is one big constraint on what I try: The car recently started blue-smoking-on-accelleration and I don't think I'm up for a rebuild... so I don't want to throw money at the problem.
What I've done (not chronological):
Dried/cleaned/spun the fuses
Put a heater/fan in the car to dry everything.
checked/resoldered the fuel pump relay (it was NOT wet)
Both relays inside seem to work.
One closes with key at "ON"
second closes when cranking
Main pump runs for a short while when cranking, then stops.
Connector to the Distributor is shiny and clean. No water got there.
disconnectd AMM to force Limp-home-mode. Connectors oily-but clean. Nothing.
cleaned/dried the top of the coil
replaced the plugs/wires/cap (they sold me the wrong rotor so that's still old)
checked the spark (plug held against shock tower bolt)
Plugs (gapped to a loose .028) are wet with fuel after start attempt.
What I've NOT done:
Compression check - It ran fine before we parked it. It should at least burp.
Timing/ timing belt check. - I don't see how water can affect this.
Please help! I'll be checking the timing and compression ASAP.
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