2G No start after cleaning engine compartment

[Calloflunacy]

So I made a newbie mistake, I have a 96 Eagle Talon TSI that I recently bought. And the engine compartment looked absolutely disgusting, so my father suggested that I use some engine gunk degreaser to clean it out, going off of his word that it would not hurt my car I agreed to it.

So we sprayed the stuff on, let it sit for a couple minutes then sprayed the engine compartment down with a hose, then blew it out with an air nozzle. I let the car sit for about 15 minutes after that, then tried to start it, and it just cranks but won't start.

Now I know I should probably have disconnected the negetive battery cable, but once again, he told me it would be fine. I pulled out the spark plugs to see if the car is getting spark, I put the spark plug on the valve cover and cranked the car and I could see spark. I also disconnected the fuel return line and cranked it, and it was spraying fuel out.

Also my oil pressure gage isn't going up when the engine cranks and neither is my tachometer. I am assuming I shorted out something, though I am unsure as to what I should start looking at. The engine is cranking fine, but its not starting. The check engine light comes on when I turn the key to on, and then turns off after a couple seconds like its supposed to.

 

[LiquidX]

Did you tape off electrical connections? It's highly possible you soaked something. Let it sit overnight and try tomorrow unless someone has a better idea. Check your underhood fuses as well.

 

[boostedjay32]

^^^^+1

 

[Calloflunacy]

Yeah that is what I am doing, I didn't tape anything off, I was under the assumption that it wouldn't damage anything. After letting the car sit for a couple hours I tried starting it again, and it is firing now and almost starting, I think I just need to let it sit for a while longer. The battery is low from cranking the motor. I will update tommorow morning.

I am still curious though as to why the gauges are not working, I checked my oil gauge connection and it was just extremely dirty, but what sends the signal to the tachometer and where is it?

 

[Niteninja01]

Yea just let the thing dry out. Did you soak the hell out of the motor? You are only supposed to drizzal the water over the motor.

 

[2gGSXEclipse]

If you know where the problem is you can spray WD-40 on that connection and it will draw all the water off. Places you might want to spray it is coils, wires, cps, etc....other then that go with everyone else. Try to get it in a warm place and let it dry over night

 

[907gs-t]

^^^^^ that's the ticket it should work after that I'm sure.

 

[viperlp01]

No tach is a sign of that connector that is right above the fuel rail.. It is your tach signal on a 2g plus a bunch of other things.. It is a longer skinny connector. Like 5 wires and it is perpendicular to you looking at it(parallel to the fuel rail).. Your car will not start without that im sure ...

 

[dsmtun3r98gst]

you guys are doing it wrong....... you were suppose to start your car right after you washed for at least 30 minutes..... letting it sit just makes watter penetrate even more making matters worse.... i've washed my engine bay like 4 times and i always drive around right after i finish just to make the heat of the engine evaporate the watter...... letting it sit for a while before starting it up........ thats where you fu#@d up

 

[LiquidX]

you guys are doing it wrong....... you were suppose to start your car right after you washed for at least 30 minutes..... letting it sit just makes watter penetrate even more making matters worse.... i've washed my engine bay like 4 times and i always drive around right after i finish just to make the heat of the engine evaporate the watter...... letting it sit for a while before starting it up........ thats where you fu#@d up

And each time you washed it, did you tape off the connectors and use something weaker than a garden hose soaking everything? He couldn't start it last night which was the reason for letting it sit to dry out. He said it's starting to work again now though.

 

[dsmtun3r98gst]

Nope. I go to the car wash and all I always do is cover the entire valve cover with a plastic bag, and the intake filter with another bag, then I spray sum tire cleaner/engine degreaser, and after that i just pressure wash it but making sure I dont do it too much around the critical parts like around the intake manifold sensors and such.... it's worked good evry time.... but you have to start the car as soon as your done, cus if not thats when you have problems.

well thats good that he got it to start then. he better drive it around just in case theres left over water

 

[LiquidX]

Nope. I go to the car wash and all I always do is cover the entire valve cover with a plastic bag, and the intake filter with another bag, then I spray sum tire cleaner/engine degreaser, and after that i just pressure wash it but making sure I dont do it too much around the critical parts like around the intake manifold sensors and such.... it's worked good evry time.... but you have to start the car as soon as your done, cus if not thats when you have problems.

well thats good that he got it to start then. he better drive it around just in case theres left over water

I believe he just used the hose and sprayed everything and soaked a lot of connectors which prohibited his inital starting. Letting it sit would allow some water to evaporate and others have mentioned the use of wd-40 (water displacement-40%) which will pull the water out.

OP, if your battery is starting to get drained, just hook up some jumpers to it and turn it over that way. Stronger cranking power and you'll get charged as well.

 

[dsmtun3r98gst]

well ofcourse watter will evaporate if you let it sit; but before it does it has the ptential of getting deeper inside vital components of the car, things just out pretty quick you knoe; just look at your brake rotors after the rain.... so in a way its better to drive the car asap to prevent from making matters worse...... well anyway you guys can let your car dry anyway you want, since its yours and not mine . im just trying to give some advise in to what works best for whoever decides to wash their engine bay in the future.

 

[Calloflunacy]

Well I let the car sit overnight, and I put the battery on a charger to make sure I would have full power when I went to crank it in the morning. Now I tried to start the car and it still won't start, and the tachometer still is not moving while the engine is cranking.

No tach is a sign of that connector that is right above the fuel rail.. It is your tach signal on a 2g plus a bunch of other things.. It is a longer skinny connector. Like 5 wires and it is perpendicular to you looking at it(parallel to the fuel rail).. Your car will not start without that im sure ...

The plug that you mentioned, what does it plug into? is that the power transistor module?

 

[LiquidX]

well ofcourse watter will evaporate if you let it sit; but before it does it has the ptential of getting deeper inside vital components of the car, things just out pretty quick you knoe; just look at your brake rotors after the rain.... so in a way its better to drive the car asap to prevent from making matters worse...... well anyway you guys can let your car dry anyway you want, since its yours and not mine . im just trying to give some advise in to what works best for whoever decides to wash their engine bay in the future.

I wasn't bashing on you if you did infact take it that way. Yes, it's best to run the car right after the wash to get the water out right away but he couldn't so we told him to go the other route.

Well I let the car sit overnight, and I put the battery on a charger to make sure I would have full power when I went to crank it in the morning. Now I tried to start the car and it still won't start, and the tachometer still is not moving while the engine is cranking.



The plug that you mentioned, what does it plug into? is that the power transistor module?

Did you check to make sure you didnt' blow any fuses? Does it just crank with the starter or do you hear it attempting to start but wont?

Use this http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/art...047-2g-engine-bay-electrical-connections.html to find your connections that could be affecting your gauges.

 

[Calloflunacy]

well the car is cranking, and if I let it crank long enough, it tries to fire, but it just won't start and run. I've pulled all four spark plugs out and cranked the motor and they are all firing. I've pulled the return line and the car sprays fuel out, I checked the resistance on all my injectors and they are ok. Also when I crank the car I can smell fuel from the exhaust. So I have spark, and I have fuel, and I am pretty sure I have air, I checked the MAS sensor and it tested out ok. This doesn't make any sense to me. I am at a total loss, What things should I start checking for?

-Edit-

YES the car is running, though I am completely unsure as to how it happened, I'm hoping someone can explain to me why this happened.

So after a while of trying to test components in the car and getting no where, I got a crazy idea to just unplug every sensor on the car and try to start it. And of course it didn't start, but I then proceeded to plug in one sensor at a time, and try to crank the car. starting with the CPS and working my way up. And to my surprise eventually the car started, with the only two sensors being unplugged was the MAS and the ECT sensor. The car ran really rough, and would not idle, if I let off the gas the car would die, but I held the gas pedal down untill the Check engine light came on. The gauges started working again, but the turbo gauge wasn't moving, so I don't know if it was turning on or not. So I plugged in the MAS and the car fired right back up, and the turbo gauge showed it was working (not sure if the sensor has anything to do with it or not). Now the car still died when I let off the gas, but it was running smoother. I plugged in the ECT and slowly let off the gas and it started idling. I drove it around the block got it up to temp and opened it up. the car still seemed to be idling low, its only at just above 500RPM's.

When the temp sensor was plugged in though, the cooling fans didn't turn on and the car started to overheat. so I unplugged it so the computer would default and turn the fans on, I let it run for a while without it plugged in, and then plugged it back in and the fans stayed on and the car didn't overheat. So I have heard that sometimes the computer needs to relearn, did I just teach my car how to run or is there something going on here I don't know about?