5.0L '96 Silverado won't start w/ damp?

RedLT1Z · April 25, 2006

Hello, I just registered on the forum hoping to find people who know more about Silverados. I drive a 94 Camaro Z28, but I drive my dads '96 Silverado when it's snowing.

Anyways, we haven't be able to get it to start lately after it rains. When it drys it out it fires no problem. When it's damp out it just keeps clicking like its turning over but it just won't fire up. It looks like it's got a distributor, is that true? It doesn't have a opti-spark like my Z28 does. (thank god, lol)

Anyways, any idea what this could be? We get it to fire on good days usually, so I'm guessing it isn't gas related. The truck has about 175k on it.

opsbear7 · April 25, 2006

not sure if this helps...but i think it is your distributor cap...i know that up in maine when we used to take an old jeep in the backroads and hit a nice bunch of water it would die and not start untill we dried out the distributor cap...i dont know how to fix this though...

RedLT1Z · April 25, 2006

I'm thinking that's the case as well. Any way I can be sure? It's a beater for both of us and since it's summer I can drive my Z28 in the rain, I just use the Silverado when it's snowing.

RedLT1Z · April 26, 2006

Any tips on this before I do it? Also the truck idles a little rough IMO when it does start. The tune up should be good for it. It only has 175k+ miles.

mcreyaufmiller · April 26, 2006

Remove the positive cable from the battery and replace the lug. At the same time clean all of the corrosion out of the connectors and reassemble with lots of battery greese. This should fix the problem.

ZR Rider · April 26, 2006

I did my first tuneup on my 97 at over 200 000 kms, plugs still looked good, but the cap rotator and wires were bad! And seeing in 97 there were 2 5.0 engine options... one cost 180 for a complete tuneup and the other over 500 complete!! I'm complaing... guess which one mine is! OUCH! Plugs where something like 10.00 to 12.00 each!