I am totally confused as to what could be causing this. It all began today when I washed off the back of the engine. At first all the cylinders would miss, so I check all the spark plug wires for water, and a few had a little on the ends and the parts that connect to the distributor, so I dried them off and it ran... until I took it for a spin around my block, and it all out began missing and stalled in the middle of the road. so I get out with the paper towels and dry off the inside of the distributor cap, and it runs, although it misses a little, and I go back to my house. I let it run in my driveway for a while to get it up to operating temp to evaporate all the water vapor that may be sitting in the distributor, and it begins to run better, so I get in and leave for my moms house(about 30 miles away, and all uphill). I get on the freeway and it misses so much that I have to keep the rpms around 5000 to do about 55 (10 under the speed limit). So I do some diagnostic tests (putting the spark plug and wire on other terminals of the distributor to see if they were the problem) and the #1 spark plug and wire seemed to work, but the terminal for the #1 cylinder produced no spark, and since I had completely rid the distributor of any water, and cleaned the contacts on the rotor and the distributor cap, I have no idea as to what could cause this. If the elecronic sensor that tells the computer what position the crank is at was bad, the engine wouldnt run at all. I have no idea as to what would make the #1 cylinder not work, and I dont want to go and replace the whole ignition system if I dont have to. any help would be greatly appreciated.

Start with a can of WD-40 and spray the inside of the
plug boots, onthe plug side, you can do the dizzy side
too if you want, make sure your wires Ohm out right too,
you might need to replace the wires. I don't think you
have a problem in the ignition system, there is no Crank
sensor on an 8V (if your tag line is right) and the whole
think would produce no spark if there were a serious fault
in the ignition system.

After the engine warms up, the water creates a steam, so
it runs fine until the steam starts, then gets wierd again

Good Luck,
Wild

I already sprayed WD 40 into the distributor and distributor cap, and it didn't do anything. Ill have to spray some in the spark plug boots as well. I hope this works . it is totally annoying and aggravating having the engine run on 3 cylinders. every time drive it, I have to floor it just to do the speed limit.

I replaced the spark plug wire with one from something I know that works, and it still doesnt get any spark on the #1 cylinder. It has to be something to do with the distributor, because if it were the coil or the pulse generator,  the engine wouldnt run.

Water gets into the plug well and causes the
problem, use a blow gun and blow it dry, WD-40
it and try it again, also try cleaning the carbon
off of the contacts in the distributor.

I know this must be frusterating, but it's in
the spark distribution, there is no difference
between the spark that is generated for cylinder
#4 or for cylinder #1, other than it's not firing
the plug, check it over again

I will try that.

are your plugs ok? if the insulator is cracked on the plug it will short to the block and misfire.

derek

True, I was thinking he checked the plugs, but
the heat and water could have caused a problem.

The only other thing I could think of is IF a tooth
came off the "star wheel" in the distributor, then
it would miss constantly, but there also would be
no spark at all in that distributor position

The way I know that the #1 cylinder is the one that has no spark is that I looked at the spark plug and it has oil and gas on it like it isnt igniting the mixture. I have traced the problem to the distributor, but I dont know if I should remove those two plastic covers that say DONT REMOVE on them (I dont want to break anything). I was going to clean the metal parts that go past the electronic sensor in the distributor, and if that doesnt work, I will probably have to replace the ignition system parts(I dont want to, but that might be what is wrong with it). Tomorrow I am going to order some new spark plug wires (I replaced the spark plugs when I replaced the engine about 4000 miles ago) What are good spark plug wires for these (I was thinking ND or NGK). When I went to the local Kragen, there was some hick working there, and hes like "I recommend the nascar ones", and all they had were autolite and borg warner, of which I question the quality.

Ya know, I reken them thar Nascar one is da best too
 

Don't remove the covers, that's not your problem, check
the wires, blow out the plug wells and boots, pull all the
plugs,  and check all of them, somthing is grounding one
of the plugs so it can't fire the cylinder, could be a bad
cover on one of the wires too. This is basics, don't go buying
distributor parts, you don't need them.