# Shifting problems in the rain

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/shifting-problems-in-the-rain/69736>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Tags:** corolla, toyota\
**Created:** [November 29, 2011, 12:36am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/shifting-problems-in-the-rain/69736 "2011-11-29T00:36:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![PDGAreject](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/cab0a1/32.png) [@PDGAreject](https://community.cartalk.com/u/PDGAreject)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 12:36am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/shifting-problems-in-the-rain/69736/1 "2011-11-29T00:36:42Z")

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My car:  
I drive a 1999 Toyota Corolla with just over 138 thousand miles. It is a manual transmission. The transmission itself was replaced ~4 years ago, so it is not 12+ years old.

My problem:  
As the weather has turned colder and wetter I have noticed that during rain my car has trouble shifting properly. When I start it up it starts fine, but once I start driving it will seem like the clutch is having trouble catching. Often the car will run as if I had the clutch pressed almost completely in, though based upon the low pitched sound of the engine (I don’t have a tach… even though it’s a manual) I know that I’m not revving the engine really high as if the car was in neutral. The car will sort of coast along at about 10% power for a few seconds, give a couple lurches, the engine will suddenly catch and rev higher and I will speed up to match the new higher rpm. Once the engine has caught I don’t have a problem until I need to shift up, when the whole issue repeats itself. This doesn’t seem to happen in 4th or 5th gear, and by the time I reach my destination it has usually stopped happening completely.

Today the same problem happened, but it was so bad that I stalled multiple times while trying to start from a stop. When I stalled the first time, it was quite difficult to get the car to start again. Fortunately I was only at the entrance to my apartment complex so I was able to limp back to the parking lot. Oddly, going in reverse did not seem to pose as much of a problem in terms of shifting.

Again, this problem only seems to happen while it is raining out, or after it’s been raining recently. If I rambled a bit it is because I am trying to include every detail I could remember about the times that this has happened. Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,  
Pat

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**Author:** ![circuitsmith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/circuitsmith/32/40376_2.png) [@circuitsmith](https://community.cartalk.com/u/circuitsmith)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 1:30am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/shifting-problems-in-the-rain/69736/2 "2011-11-29T01:30:31Z")

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Sounds more like an ignition problem to me.  
Park somewhere really dark. With the engine idling, hood up, look for a light show around the plug wires, distributor cap and coil. Spray a fine water mist from a spray bottle on the ignition parts.  
If the engine stumbles and you see sparks you’ll see where the problem is.  
No need to wet things down.