Washed the engine, walked home.

[Novice]

I did the searches but to see what to do next but, I can't really sleep because I'm still pissed off so figured you guys would get a laugh out of this.

Took the Talon to the car wash to degrease the motor. Bust out some plastic grocery bags and cover the air filter and the CAS. Wash the engine, took about 10 mins. Then I towel dried most of it, then started it up. It started fine and was idling and I proceeded to towel dry the rest. After reading about condensation in the CAS I thought it would be get to have it idle with the hood up. After about 5 minutes the car just dies. It cranks but won't turn over.

I jack with it for like 20 minutes. Tried starting after waiting a few minutes. Pulled the spark plug boots, they had water on the outside of the boot but it was too dark to see inside the spark plug hole. Eventually I had to push the stupid my DSM out of the car wash bay up a little hill and into a parking spot at a Sonic drive in where people were just staring at me the whole time. Freaking humiliating!

So I'm putting stuff away on the inside of the car because I know it's gotta sit here overnight and what do you know... It starts raining. Not like " Oh it's raining " But like pouring ass rain. So I have to walk home about a mile, in the rain, at 11:30 at night with my Talon sitting at Sonic.

Hope it doesn't get towed.

 

[Dready]

yea i did the same thing.....change the sparkplugs

 

[silver bullit]

You need to check for spark with a screw driver inside the boot trick... Doubl check all the wires make sure you unplug them and blow them out. Make sure they are on there.

Go ahead and go back, it may just need to dry off for a bit.

 

[Detective Coating]

Haha I saw this one coming when I was reading through it. When you clean your bay you have to cover EVERY electrical connection that could get a drop of water in it. Hopefully you can just swap in new plugs and you'll be good to go.

 

[93_tsi_fwd]

Its getting towed right now, while your posting. J/P That sucks dude.

 

[crimsondragon]

Check your fuses for any shorts. The general rule of thumb is to let the car dry overnight before actually starting.

 

[Novice]

Ok guys,


Thanks for your replies. I went back to the car this morning. I popped the hood and just kind of made sure everything looked legit. I disconnected and reconnected the electrical plug going to the coil pack. Looked dry. So I got in and it started right up on the first crank. Guess it just needed to dry overnight.

So lesson learned. Probably just stick to hand detailing the engine bay from now on. I'm just glad I got the car home.

 

[TheBigPhantom]

Wow good thing I read this story haha I just showed it to my friend because he wanted to do the exact same thing. Now I have proof that engine 'washing' on a 14 year old car is not such a good idea!

 

[->PrOjEcTGS<-]

That's happened to me before.

 

[DGajre777]

Yup, happened to me before and had to let the car dry over night. That was the last time I sprayed any kind of water pressure hose in the engine bay.

Glad to hear that your car didn't get towed, even if you had to walk in the rain at night.

 

[LandoAWD]

Toasted a CAS before like this. Now I just don't clean the bay.

 

[hydrastas]

that was funny, i work at sonic and i know i would'of been like haha to see someone pushing in a dsm. glad it started up though.

 

[kris_stewart10]

like WOW that sucks that is why when i go to wash my engine bay i am going to do it with a rag HA sorry man i wish i could have helped

 

[LandoAWD]

Punctuate.

Thanks.

 

[TunaTalon]

After power washing the engine bay of the Talon with all of the electrical components covered it looked good and started up fine. On the way to dinner it started to run on one cylinder, then two, then one again sounding very rough.

Hoping that the heat would dry it out I kept going and nursed the engine at a red light just go keep it running. The Pontiac in the next lane heard the loping and reving and thought I was looking for a drag. He really blew away a DSM while I pumped the throttle just to clear the intersection.

The good news is that the engine heat worked and the Talon got me home without problem.

 

[twistedimage03]

When I worked at a car detailer we had this problem pretty often because we pressure washed every engine bay of every car. It didn't happen all the time but when it did we just let the cars sit overnight. Every time the next morning they would start and run fine. Glad to hear it was the same for you.

 

[D20mobile]

I had this same issue with my car, Ok in my scenrio water had gotten under my spark plug cover, and into my plug wells. The car ran but very rough, I just let it run until it burn off what ever water got in. Check for arcing holes in on your plug boots.

 

[98GSXtreme07]

This is why I hand wash my engine bay.

 

[ricktb]

just a thought, seems that the engine wouldn't start because water pooled in the spark plug wells right? Since your at the car wash, take the vacuum and a sonic straw and some tape... tape the straw onto the end of the vac so you have a really thin long vac nozzel, and suck the water out of the plug wells... maybe the wire boots also and try again? Maybe you can get er going in 15 minutes instead of overnight. I suppose you would need a screwdriver to remove the plug cover tho...

 

[BoostFrenzy]

Now I just don't clean the bay.

Same here. I think all that dust and soot adds character .

Rule of thumb, Water+Electricity=

 

[ummdsmwhat]

did the same but it still ran...just belts started slipping and it ran like shit for awhile. just drove it around and did a few couple pulls to dry shit up

 

[Bubbs Malone]

Yup, did this over the weekend trying to clean up some oil around the tranny and dust around the valve cover. It ran sluggish, but better than ever the next day when it dried up.

 

[ShawnsGarage]

I have never pressure cleaned the engine bay on any of my vehicals other than my 90 ford ranger(didnt cause a single problem). I would suggest to hand wash it as you now know.

 

[embi24]

someone stated and theyre correct, when you wet some electrical components you have to let them dry before starting the car... something i learned awhile ago. try to let it dry out somehow, then try before you buy anything

 

[TurboATM]

i had this happen 2 me at home, i just took the leaf blower to the plugs for a few minutes, worked nicely