1997 Chevy Tahoe not starting after rain/sleet

[kickass audio]

Hey SMD. Lets see if you can help me and my dad figure out whats up with his truck before we have an accident with a torch and burn the damn thing to the ground since its a money pit of a vehicle.

My dad has a 1997 Chevrolet Tahoe with the 5.7 liter V-8 engine that will not start whenever it rains or sleets outside. What happens is that when you get in and turn the key to start the engine will turn over and continue to turn over and the RPM gauge on the dash goes up to about 250-300 RPM's when starting but it will not catch. Sometimes you will get like a quick catch where it will fire on one cylinder but it will not get the engine up and running. The one day my dad managed to get it started by putting the gas pedal down just a little bit (no more than maybe 1/4 of a inch) and it started and ran with no problems and after it was shut down it started right back up without any issues.

We both figured maybe it was the spark plugs and distributor cap/rotor that were going out on us since we last changed it back in 2008. My next door neighbor came over with his heat gun the next day my dad had a problem starting and heated up the distributor, wires and plugs for a minute and it fired right up afterwards so that makes me think there is moisture in the ignition system somewhere thats preventing the start. So on Saturday I replaced all the spark plugs with iridium plugs, replaced the wires with the middle-high grade wires from advance auto, replaced the distributor cap and distributor rotor. I did all of this and it had no problems starting but then on Monday it rained a bit overnight and we had problems starting the damn thing again. We can hear the fuel pump kicking on when we turn the key so it is delivering fuel and the filter was replaced a year ago. Now i looked up online that sometimes the moisture can be built up in the distributor cap which causes it to not start when wet and one suggestion was to spray the distributor down with a small amount of water and see if it fails to start as a result. I think this may be the case since one of the two screws that hold down the distributor cap is stripped and barely bites into the engine when you install it. Another thing i noticed is that the two screws that hold the rotor down had surface rust on them but were still in great shape and did not deform when i removed and reinstalled them. And finally my dad and myself noticed that sometimes when starting the starter will make like a "zing" noise after the engine has caught and is running on its own. Now i think that is just the solenoid not disengaging soon enough and is spinning up since its still grabbing on the flywheel but is this right?

What would you say this could be? What else can i try other than spraying water by the distributor cap and seeing if it stops the engine from catching?

Any and all help is always well appreciated. Thanks everyone!!

edit: I also forgot to mention that I dont believe the timing is off but have not checked it as the engine once started runs without any problems. If you slam the gas it takes off like a bat out of hell and it barely has any shudder to it. The shudder to it is typical of any engine that is compensating the air/fuel ratio when sitting at idle. If you pick it up a little bit then there is no shudder to the engine. Also the spark plugs when i removed them (were also last replaced in 08) were clean. They only had a slight dark look but the look was from the plugs just being exposed to so much heat that the metal darkened. It was not carbon build up or anything extreme.

[kickass audio]

Bump. Anyone, anyone at all have anything to suggest I try???

[Dman1320]

had the same problem for a bit with my 99 burban. my solution was the dis cap wasn't seated right on the housing, so i used some loctite and sat it down right without any wires attached, then let it dry, then put them all back on. haven't had the same problem happen again, even in nasty rain storms.

[kickass audio]

Thats what i want to try but since its my dads truck he doesnt want me doing that to it. It was bad enough that he flipped out when i sprayed water around the dist cap to see if it stopped the truck from starting but it did not. He is still insisting its the starter that is going and wants to replace it but i really dont think that the starter is bad. Either way this truck is a money pit lol.

[Guest]

if the starter is bad, it will either A) not even crank over, or sometimes will crank. if you turn the key and the car just keeps turning over without firing, its not the starter lol.

[kickass audio]

Yeah i know Kranny. Try telling my dad that. Me and him have been arguing back and forth about the starter being the problem for weeks now. lmao. It always cranks, not once has it failed to crank. it just doesnt always catch and start up. Sometimes it will start just fine but you can hear the starter making like a whirring noise after the engine catches and is running on its own for a few seconds then it stops so idk if the starter solenoid isnt releasing soon enough or what but thats it.

[94jettameowpsst]

Idk about suburbans but my jeep was doing the same thing but I bought another one bc I couldn't figure out the problem.

Had all the same symptoms u said but once started it'd backfire out the intake and eventually stall.

If u have one check the crank or cam position sensor as that will be hit or miss starting or not. Also (just relating this to a jeep) there's a little plug under the cap that will go bad and also give you these symptoms as well.

Sorry I can't be much more help as I have no real experience with your vehicle but I hope this helps

[audiofanaticz]

I have to change my cap and rotor once a year in my 99 tahoe it seems, it gets worn bad, and slightly rusted and heavily corroded.

There is a vent to allow air into the cap and rotor, when those screens get plugged you get moisture build up, and the vehicle will not fire.

Just changed my cap last week and my tahoe wouldnt start at all that day, or right before swapping the cap and rotor. 15minutes later after swapping the cap and rotor and cleaning that vent screen it fired right up.

Dont use a cheap autozone or advance cap and rotors

Use the AC Delco brand, or Accel. the wells, duralast, and bvd or whatever are garbage.

[kickass audio]

Audiofanaticz im so glad you chimed in. My dad mentioned that screen but i couldnt find the damn thing when i changed the cap and rotor. Where is it and how do i get to it? I tried looking at all the repair guides online and i cant figure out the location of the vent but i know how to take that entire distributor assembly right off and replace it (not doing that lol). When i changed the cap it had some corrosion but it was so minimal that it was almost like i had sprayed it with water a few times and let it evaporate. I believe i have the old parts still if you would like me to post a pic of it on here.

[audiofanaticz]

Here is a link to read up on it. Scroll down til you see "Poor Distributor Ventilation" and read that section. After reading that scroll down farther for the image of the vent tubes.

http://www.tomorrowstechnician.com/Content/Site301/SmartProducts/PATTERNFAILURES_00000000860.pdf

There are 2 vents, towards the bottom of the actual distributor, they are about the size of a pencil eraser. They cant really be seen with the Cap & Rotor on, so you will need to pull that off.

What I did was took a 1/8inch drill bit and drilled the vents out, said good enough and its been fine

Im by no means a mechanic but I know a decent bit to keep my vehicles running, and when I get lost the Genisys is my best friend. LOL

Here is a pic I jacked from the internet and drawn some arrows on maybe clearer to view than the link above.

my old rotor I just took off

new rotor

old cap

new cap

side by side

Genisys