yup...its been mentioned in just about every post and poster said he replaced them.

 

replace the cap then spray clear engine paint on the cap and the top of the wires all around it top and bottom let it dry and it will be water proof i mean it! this is a old trick and it works ive been doing this for 35yrs and learned it from an old timer if you dont want to use paint use wd-40

 

WD-40 washes off, paint does not.

That's a trick off-roaders have been using for a while too.

 

might try dielectric grease on all the contact points to keep water out as well. I usually smear that on the bottom ring of the distributor cap as i have it handy when i apply it to the terminals on top.

 

I second the dielectric grease. I had this same problem for a long time with my truck. Whenever I went through a puddle or I washed the truck, it would barely run. Come to find out, water was just building up in the spark plug tubes. When I replaced my plugs, I put dielectric grease on the wires and plugs, and haven't had a problem since.

 

^^^ +2 keeps moisture out and better conductivity.

 

Ah, now we all know what the boot guards are for!! Keeping water out. However, if you go deep enough, water can fill up in them and create some problems. But....in water that deep, you will have more problems than just some ignition problems.

 

What color is the truck in question?

 

I'm having a similar problem except that my truck doesnt stall or anything when i go through deep water or mud. but the next time i go to start my truck it takes a good 45 seconds to turn over and it seems really weak when it does finally catch.
Things ive done:
checked and replaced battery connections
replaced battery
Tie Strapped the battery down as the dodge mount bar threads had rotted off
checked leads going to starter- appear to be good
checked the coil- deesnt appear to be cracked
tried lookin at distributor, its kinda tough to see, i cant see any cracks at all, and it doesnt really appear to be wet at all during times when it has a hard time starting.

any other ideas?
im thinking possibly the crank sensor leads could be getting wet? and causing a bad signal? but im not sure where its located on the magnum v8s

the truck is a 99 dodge ram 1500 with the 5.2l
thanks in advance for any help

also i saw the post on painting the distributor and wires to keep water out?
would rhinoliner be a sufficient alternaltive? i find that its thicker and easier to fill gaps with it. lol its just an idea

 

FYI thats what wd-40 was invented for...WD stands for water displacement formula #40....