Hesitation problem and a bad day of stalling in parking lot

Hi everyone,
The other day we had a really bad storm in my area. After things calmed down a little bit I went to crank the car to head to work. It cranked up but had a very rough idle and after a few seconds stalled out. I gave two more test cranks that lasted about a second with similar behavior, prompting me to cut the car off myself.

I took it to the mechanic and after looking over it he believed the problem was excess rainwater getting into the distributor. He told me it was good to go and I took it home with no discernible issues (yesterday).

This morning I started the car and experienced a rough idle all over again! The longer I took to clean the windows of frost (as it continued to run) the worse the idle would sound. Throughout my trip to work I experienced hesitation. In town my hesitation happened when accelerating from red lights. On the highway it was very subtle, but happened when I wasn't actively accelerating.

In doing research on my symptoms I've managed to connect something I never could figure out to this problem. I've heard a really weird whiny sound coming from what sounds like the front of the car for the last month or so. I just had both of my fuel pumps replaced about two months ago after smelling fuel around the back of the car, and sometimes even in the backseat. My fuel economy improved slightly (though dropping back down around the time the whining started happening), and the smell got better, then I started smelling the faint smell of gas again in the back of the car, though not as strong as before. My research has led me to consider that, not only is my problem likely fuel-system related, but that I ought to look more specifically at the fuel pressure regulator and the pump check valve.

I haven't stalled out since that first day, but I've been deathly afraid of it (particularly while in traffic) after having had EGR problems with another car before. I'm very much a novice in the way of cars, and my mechanic hasn't been able to pinpoint the source of this problem yet (I'd mentioned the other symptoms to him before this recent batch of problems). What do you all think this might be? Thanks.

What year and model?

In general when water affects how and engine is running. Your problem is either a vacuum leak or even more likely to be an electrical problem. Have you tuned up the car since you got it? Plug wires, plugs, cap and rotor can go a long way toward fixing any wet engine running issues.

How is the fuse area of the car? If you have a car that has the fuse panel by your lower left leg when you are in the driver's seat, remove the cover and check the fuses for corrosion, moisture etc. Shine up with a little fine grade sandpaper or emory cloth. A thin wipe of dialectric grease to both sides of the terminals will help keep it from corroding again, but with the temperature differential from outside to inside, and where rain can come in from the wipers and leak down and cause trouble. Like dl242gt has said, look around for vacuum leaks-- but you have to look (and listen) hard. A lot of times, a hose will be leaking from the underside or be ever-so-slightly cracked causing idle/hesitation issues.
Plug wires--inspect them too. Since they may be laying and rubbing on the valve cover check the undersides too. Mist some water on the wires at night with the engine running to see if you can see any arcs or notice any change in idle. I'm sure that more experienced members can probably tell you more than me, but I hope this helps!

hi dl242 and durk,
Sorry, forgot to mention earlier- 1992 240.

Update: I replaced the fuel pressure regulator the other day and the car has been running much smoother. So far no hesitation nor stalls. My fuel gauge has been much more accurate, exhaust no longer smells of gas, so I'm thinking the big problem has been sorted through!

I have continued to hear the loud, high-pitched whine I had been hearing before. Any idea what that sound could be?
I checked the day of and didn't see any vacuum leaks, my mechanic didn't seem to notice any either. And the car was last tuned up a year and a half ago by the former owner (just bought the car in August of last year).

And I've looked in the fuse box before, it was in okay condition as of a month ago. I still haven't cleaned the contacts for the fuses, but the ones having to do with fuel were replaced a few months ago around the time I got the new pumps.

edit: also, thanks for your help! I've been so glad to have this message board as a resource anything something starts seeming weird.

You can also search for sneaky vacuum leaks with a squirt bottle of water. The water will be sucked into the engine and it will stutter as it passes the water through. It doesn't hurt anything.

A whine can be something rubbing like a belt out of alignment due to bad accesory bushings or a bad bearing in the alternator or a bad bearing in the timing belt tensioner for example. Even a belt can whine if it's rubbing onthe plastic cover for the timing belt. The plastic covers warp over the years and belts can rub against it.

In my 93 car the manual trans has a whine due to the leaking gaskets making the oil level low in my volvo rebuilt trans. Lots of work to reseal the trans so for now I just have to deal with it by filling it up every couple of months.

Thanks for the great info dl242! I'll be sure to do the water test if I this problem rears its head again. The whine is so annoying, I'll troubleshoot it starting with the suggestions you made. Thanks again.