hmm... washed engine bay, now wont run.

[fiyota]

great, decided to wash my engine bay before work today... wait an hour after dooing it then try firing it up to go to work... fires up just fine but it's missing horribly... probably only 2 cylinders actually fireing, give it any gas it just dies.. just shaking the shit out of everything... then, like an idiot I listen to my dad who says keep it running at a fast idle to "heat it up so the water evapourates"... well. I do this for about 5-10 minutes... I hear another cylinder start running, I think oh good its going to get em all going and be fine... WRONG.... then I hear a faint tapping... then a loud knocking... then she slow starts to bog down and die... can't get it started again... just kinda chugs and tries to turn over but no luck whatsoever... so I go to work in my parents envoy.. get back tonight and try it again.. it tries turning over but just sits there going glug glug glug glug glug glug inbetween the sound of the starter trying to turn it over.... fuck. any ideas? :1zhelp:

 

[ValgeKotkas]

I remember sum1 saying that after the washing 2 plugs were dead

 

[lagged]

dont wash the engine bay soaking everything...wait too late?

dry up water in any place it has collected.

 

[koulee]

Probably flooded the spark plug valley. Wait for the whole mofo to dry and start it again. If its still misfiring, you may need new plugs.

 

[fiyota]

well, it's been about 10 hours since I washed it and it still not running at all. And I didnt even get that much water on it

 

[Electric S]

Before you replace the spark plugs, try opening up the distributor.
I guess there's a lot of water in it.
Clean it... put everything back together... and fire that baby up!!

 

[supra90turbo]

always leave the car running if you spray the engine bay with water. that way, you know what reacts right away. either that, or don't spray the engine bay with water

 

[s383mmber1]

simple green and a rag > water and a hose

 

[supra90turbo]

^agreeeeeed!!!

btw, and completely off topic: I heard Infected Mushroom on XM the other day, and I must say that they are awesome!

 

[s383mmber1]

^agreeeeeed!!!

btw, and completely off topic: I heard Infected Mushroom on XM the other day, and I must say that they are awesome!

O man, thats my music right there! We may have to continue this conversation in a PM!

Best song -

Infected mushroom - deeply disturbed

 

[mkiiSupraMan18]

Change the plugs... it's only $10 or so anyway.

You probably have water all down in the plug holes so the cylsa ren't getting spark. Just pull the plug boots off, stick a rag down in the holes with the plugs still in dry as much as you can and then take the plug out. Wat little water that is left can just run into the hole, then just put your new plugs in and it should all work out good.

This happened to me in the Cressida, and it took me about 45 mins to get her back to running correctly.

When I do the engine bay I just spray on some simple green, let it soak for 5-10, take the hose and put it on "mist" and just get everything wet and wipe it off w/ a rag. that way it's not really a lot of water so even if it does get wet it's not soaking wet. Then just rinse it again and dry it off
its EZ

 

[bluefalcon1]

Always cover with plastic the IGNITOR/ Alternator/ COil Packs/ CPS/ Heater relay and sparkplug galley before you spray down the engine compartment.

Since you did not, take Q-tips and use a rubber band to attach it to a screwdriver. Stick the Q-tip between the sparkplug and the HEad to absorb all the water. Make sure you push the Q-tip all the way to the bottom. Water in the galley will cause the plugs to arch against the head. Do this to all the plugs. Disconnect the electrical connectors everywhere and let it set to dry out or blow them out with compressed air. Then try to start the engine again and hope you the water didn't arch out any of your electrical components when you first tried to start the car.

Good luck

 

[MDCmotorsports]

Water in the plug galley FTW....

 

[mkiiSupraMan18]

I've never seen something electrical get shorted out just because you got a little water on it. Of course that doesn't mean it doesn't happen... but I've taken high powered pressure washers to engine bays and the worste I've gotten was a few bad spark plugs.

Get good sealing boots and you won't have to worry about it anymore. :icon_bigg

 

[Wills7MGTE]

Yea no offense but who's the genius who said wash your engine bay, use a rag and simple green or some other cleaner, I just can't phathom the mentality of introducing water into an area filled with wiring, metal components that could rust, and all of these pieces being 10+ years old, and usally more like 15 or so. Dude, no offense but thats like the guy who called tech support cuz he broke his cup holder on his dell pc, turns out the "cup holder" was the dvd drive.

 

[Fuzz420]

I did like you and sprayed mine off at the carwash.Tryed my best to avoid important electrical stuff.After i finished It seemed to be runnin on 2-3 cylinders and then about 5 minutes later i got another cylinder. All in all it took my car about 45 minutes to run on all 6 cylinders.Then i had to change the plugs about a week later becuase it never did run 100% like it was. Ill never do it again.Goodluck, some lessons are learned the hard way

 

[Cup_of_suprA]

It's OK to wash the engine bay, used car dealers do it all the time... You are supposed to cover up the distributor and any other electrical components with plastic bags. I pressure washed an old Jaguar before, plastic parts started to break. In the end the car started up just fine.:icon_bigg

 

[suprasick]

I did the same to mine and i just took a turkey baster (sp?) and sucked up all of the water inside of the plug valley waited couple days and she was back on road.

 

[bluemk3]

i had a similar problem i filled the spark plug valley with water i had to take the coils out and the 3000 pipe off and use a sponge to dry it the pest i could i then replaced the plugs and ran some dry gas as a precaution and ti worked for me

 

[Squid699]

Water in the plug galley FTW....

+1

Paper towels or a shop vac