Shouldn't have cleaned my engine

Thorgan112

Thorgan112

New member
OK so yesterday I decide to do a little engine cleaning. I have done this before and have never had a problem, I use a degreaser, a scrub brush, and a garden hose. Started my truck up today and the engine is puttering at idle, it's shaking the car a bit. The check engine and vsc off and Trac off lights also came on. Any ideas?
 
Register to hide this ad
Did you cover the electronics? (alternator, fuses, battery terminals, etc.?).

I would start by opening the hood and let it sit in the sun for the day, but I'm sure others will add to the recommendations.

Good luck.
 
Thorgan112 said:
I used a little bit of pressure in the extremely dirty areas, but nothing that should have damaged it, and yes I have an air compressor
Click to expand...

you most likely have gotten water inside the spark plug wells and that water is causing a short (misfire)

so go ahead and pull all 6 or 4 of your spark plug wires and check inside the well to see if there is any water in there.

thats my bet what happened. pretty simple.
 
I agree with GVL. Open the hood. Open anything you can, like fuse box lids. Pull plug boots. Possibly water infiltrated an electric connector. Can you unplug the various connectors to look for water and let them air dry? Pay specifcic attention to those areas you scrubbed extra hard or rinsed at higher pressure.
Re compressed air, I'm now thinking it might force water deeper into wherever it has infiltrated, depending upon the velocity. I don't know.
 
Did the same this a few weeks ago. I had shorted out a coil and it was misfiring. Get a obdII scanner so you can find out which cylinder is having the misfire on
 
Asaspades93 said:
Did the same this a few weeks ago. I had shorted out a coil and it was misfiring. Get a obdII scanner so you can find out which cylinder is having the misfire on
Click to expand...

So what did you do? Just open the hood and let it dry out? I have a feeling it's either the coils or the sparks
 
Thorgan112 said:
OK so yesterday I decide to do a little engine cleaning. I have done this before and have never had a problem, I use a degreaser, a scrub brush, and a garden hose. Started my truck up today and the engine is puttering at idle, it's shaking the car a bit. The check engine and vsc off and Trac off lights also came on. Any ideas?
Click to expand...

Had SAME problem about two months ago. I ended up getting water around my #6 plug. I popped off my wire and blew out from around the plug with an air compressor. A couple minutes later she was good to go. Maybe that will help out!
 
I have never heard of this... I pressure wash my engine bay all the time and have never had an issue. I don't blast the spark plug areas or the engine block at all, but I do rinse it....
 
Jlott9311 said:
Had SAME problem about two months ago. I ended up getting water around my #6 plug. I popped off my wire and blew out from around the plug with an air compressor. A couple minutes later she was good to go. Maybe that will help out!
Click to expand...

MTD said:
I have never heard of this... I pressure wash my engine bay all the time and have never had an issue. I don't blast the spark plug areas or the engine block at all, but I do rinse it....
Click to expand...

just pulled off the spark plug cable on the drivers side, water was sitting at the bottom. Blew it out and I'm letting it air dry for a few. hopefully it was the only cylinder that had water at the bottom of the plug. you were right [MENTION=105789]Jlott9311[/MENTION]
 
shootmymime said:
you most likely have gotten water inside the spark plug wells and that water is causing a short (misfire)

so go ahead and pull all 6 or 4 of your spark plug wires and check inside the well to see if there is any water in there.

thats my bet what happened. pretty simple.
Click to expand...

Thorgan112 said:
just pulled off the spark plug cable on the drivers side, water was sitting at the bottom. Blew it out and I'm letting it air dry for a few. hopefully it was the only cylinder that had water at the bottom of the plug. you were right [MENTION=105789]Jlott9311[/MENTION]
Click to expand...

:wtf: did my correct comment just go unnoticed?
 
shootmymime said:
you most likely have gotten water inside the spark plug wells and that water is causing a short (misfire)

so go ahead and pull all 6 or 4 of your spark plug wires and check inside the well to see if there is any water in there.

thats my bet what happened. pretty simple.
Click to expand...

my bad for forgetting to mention you in the last post, you hit the nail on the head on this one!!! So I did what you said and took out all the plug wires, only had water in one of them. I still let all of them air out for an hour and a half and also blew em out a bit with a compressor. I put them all back in when i saw no more water in the one well that had the water in it. turned the car on and it was still misfiring. Went back pulled the plug back out and moisture was back in it. do i need to pull the spark plug itself out as well?
 
Had this happen on one of my DSM's. I had let it all dry out and still no start. Found the CAS had water inside. Had to oven bake it dry till it would work again. Glad you got her going.
 
I would pull the plugs out and clean them.

There is no way OP could have hydro locked it or messed up his engine by washing it with water right guys ?

Is it to risky to rinse it with water ?
 
kolelt said:
I would pull the plugs out and clean them.



There is no way OP could have hydro locked it or messed up his engine by washing it with water right guys ?



Is it to risky to rinse it with water ?
Click to expand...


No need to pull the plugs.
No way to hydro lock a motor.
You can still have this miss fire symptom when you add water into the equation.

Check the spark plug wells again. Spray them with wd 40 and inside the boot.

I've had this happen on my 96 years ago.
 
shootmymime said:
No need to pull the plugs.
No way to hydro lock a motor.
You can still have this miss fire symptom when you add water into the equation.

Check the spark plug wells again. Spray them with wd 40 and inside the boot.

I've had this happen on my 96 years ago.
Click to expand...

X2 what [MENTION=14772]shootmymime[/MENTION] said. Most people don't know this...but WD-40 was devolved for NASA to remove water from electrical components. Hence the WD...water displacement. And on the 40th attempt...they had a formula that worked...and poof, there you have it WD-40. It wasn't until later, people began using it as a lube.

Anyway, just like shootmymime said...spray the spark plug well and boot with the WD-40 and it will remove all the moisture. You should be in business...unless its a coil!
 
I clean my engine compartment at least every 6 months. I never cover anything other than my deckplate. I also pull all the electrical connections and put some di electric grease in them at the same time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

No members online now.
Total: 301 (members: 0, guests: 301)

Forum statistics

Threads
278,309
Messages
3,554,068
Members
248,016
Latest member
Advally Service

Share this page

Trending content

Back
Top