97 Chevy Cavalier doesn't like to swim

[Frapp]

I'm a bit worried on how my car has been acting since my first accident with it over a year ago...

The Story:
Tried to take a left hand turn out a side street and ended up hitting a green Taurus in its front passenger door. Nothing major, but the tip of my hood and bumber were dented inwards; the Taurus had a dent in its front passenger door.

I took it to a very trusted mechanic to do the mechanical part of the repairs. In the complex he's in, a body shop was just put in, owned and operated by somebody else. For the sake of time and laziness, I decided to have the body repairs done with him. He replaced the bumper and the stuff inside it that actually protects, but with the hood all he did was bend the hood back into position. The hood appeared to be in worse shape than the bumper. I was told that he should have replaced the hood rather than fold it back, but alas he did not. Because of this, there is a gap that is rougly 1.5 inches bigger between the hood and the bumper than used to be.

The Problem:
I live in New England...we get some pretty hardcore storms out here, especially now in the winter. The problem with the car is, whenever it rains (liquid, not snow) out, from a light drizzle to downpouring sleet, my car has a hard as hell time starting. I sounds like it wants to turn over, but it just can't. It just keeps putzing like there's no gas in it. 3rd try is usually the winner, but today I just couldn't get it started (had to get some friends to push it into the garage...it finally started later this evening once it was out of the rain). I've only had this problem since the hood repair...

The Question:
Is the larger gap in the hood the main contributor to this problem (water more easily gets in), or am I dealing with something far worse?

[FalconGuy]

Have your battery checked, hard starting can be a sign your battery is on its way out Worth a shot

[pwalk]

Car has a few years on it, I would take it back to the mechanic that you trust and have him do a complete check of the electrical and fuel system. Probably just the car showing its age a little bit.

[manticore33]

Could maybe from the accident not all the splash guards got put back into place? (such as under the car and etc). I am not familar with the Cavs, so I am not sure if that would make a difference or not, but it could be something that would allow water up inside the engine bay causing a PITA time starting.

[Brad B.]

Moisture can invade several places and be a huge problem. Check the spark plug wires for cuts/fit, ignition wiring, battery terminals, starter wiring, coil packs/coil, etc. In a climate such as yours a moisture displacement/anti-corrosive spray should be used on connections such as this.

My friend had a Corvette with similar problems and it ended up being a combination of a tiny crack in the distributor cap that opened up in cool weather and a crack in a plug wire casing near the terminal.

Good luck.

[Corey Bit Spank]

OT: you have some spiffy drawings on your site.