2 nights ago I left my car outside in the rain at my boyfriends house because it was raining and I didn't want to drive it home... the next day (yesterday) it wouldn't start... it would roll over once then make clunky noises like rearclunkclunkclunkclunk (it never really keeps rolling over... which probably isn't a good thing but it usually starts right up so it hasn't been a problem). Anyway now today the rain is dried up and my boyfriend called and said my car started, but that it doesn't start like it should and still sounds kinda funny.

Could there have been something that got wet that caused it not to start or what? I'd like to get it fixed so that if I ever have to leave it in the rain again I won't have this problem. Any suggestions/ideas would be great.



...Or maybe my car was just pissed at me for letting it get wet.

 

That used to happen to my car and I think it was because I removed the hood-liner. After I installed a new one, it hasn't given me any problems after a rain-fall.

 

It is possible that the opti got wet, and when the car (can opti) got dry, it started again.

 

My old '95 Z had the same problem. A bad coil was the problem. GM replaced it under warranty, and the problem went away.

Frank

 

opti... hmm.... what IS that anyway and what are the other "symptoms" of it going bad?

 

Yeah this is probably what happened... my opti got wet and the car was never quite the same since.... luckily I have a new opti going in during this rebuild.

 

Z28 Melissa, The Opti or Optispark is your engines ignition assembly (AKA distributor) and it is located behind the waterpump. The distributor on the LT1's are driven directly from the front of the camshaft and then the Optispark directly drives the waterpump.
The two main problems (3 if you count the replacement cost) with the Optispark is that because it's behind the waterpump it is not easily serviced ("normal" cap and rotor replacement is difficult and most just change the whole thing while their at it).
The second is that moisture can get inside the unit (usually if you pressure wash your engine, your water pump leaks or if you go through a major puddle) and then the moisture causes your spark to go to ground and not the plugs.
Symptoms of a bad one are: high RPM missfires, car suddenly dying, or rough idle and poor power, it will just generally run bad like you had bad plug wires and or plugs.
93-94 were unvented types and 95-97 had vent/vacume tubes to help keep moisture from collecting. If you have the earlier version you can change it to a later but not without alot of other part changes (cam, timing chane cover, timing chain, vent tubes...)
There are a couple of aftermarket options (Bob Bailies LTCC about $700 with coils, or Dynaspark Opti about & $600) or just get a stock replacement from Jason Cromer at Sam Taylor GM
http://www.samtaylor.com/html/parts.html
Thats the cheepest/surest alternative for a reliable part. Then just do everything you can (within reason) to keep your engine dry and it might last.