A couple weeks back after a cold and rainy overnight, my daily driver 88 245 ran very poorly on startup, and 5 minutes down the road stalled out and even after cranking and cranking it would not restart. I got it to a gas station and filled it to the top with fresh gas, thinking maybe water in the tank. No change. I got it pulled back home and parked it. After work that afternoon, (warmer and dry) it started up instantly and ran fine. So I drove it for a few days without incident. Until it rained heavily again, and then it repeated the performance.

I've swapped out the dist. cap, but careful inspection of the old one shows no cracks. And even a crack would mean poor running, but not no start... Does a failing air mass meter become moisture sensitive? Or the electronic pickup in the distributor?

Does this ring a bell with anyone? Any part known to utterly fail only in wet conditions?

By the way, the air is wet/humid when the trouble happens, but the engine itself is dry. It's not like it went through a big puddle or anything. Just sitting in the drive, if it has rained heavily overnight, the car either won't start at all, or just barely coughs to life after cranking and cranking and cranking.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Bob