blkstealthpaid4

My friend washed his engine without covering any elctrical component.He had done it the normal way by spraying engine cleaner and then hosing it off.The car seems to be running on 6 or 7 plugs.The normal pick up is not there.The engine also vibrates on acceleration.
I am thinking we can take out the plastic covers on both sides of the distributor and check for fire and then clean the plug wire tips in case it is wet.Clean the tip of the MAS sensor and the last effort is to check the plugs.Is there anything else I have not mentioned?I guess most cars stop doing that after a couple of hours but this symptom is still there and it has been about 18 hrs since the cleaning.Is there anything else we can do in checking?The check engine light is NOT ON.
Thank you!
BTW two weeks ago him and I did a tune up on the car without any problems.

persian451

ahh man, you aint suppose to clean the engine, there are too many electrical components in there at risk.. Anyways, when I cleaned my when i first got my car.. big mistake.... i had a check engine about a week later... I think I remember changing a TPS sensor or something... Check around the ignition system.. idle, tps sensor.. plugs or even wires

Kansas

My first question would be: What did you replace when you did that "tune-up" two weeks ago and were all the new parts OEM? And were all the new components installed properly? Maybe I was lucky but I blasted the engine clean at the car wash hundreds of times on my 1st LS over 14 years / 183K miles and never had any problems with drivability after I did it. I did avoid pointing the spray at the alternator or obvious electrical parts but didn't pay all that much attention. The only result of all this washing was an engine compartment that looked like new when I sold the car last fall.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

It will dry out in most cases and be fine. Drive the car for a good half-hour and the engine compartment heat should take care of it. If you used a high pressure system and after driving, it still seems "off", check for disconnected vacuum hose/s.

blkstealthpaid4

I also thought about those disconnected vacuum hoses.Especially the one in front of the plenum does the same thing when disconnected.He called me and said he disconnected the batt. term. for about 10 min and that did not work.He also cleaned the wire tips and still did not work.He then called to say that one side of the plug bank(passenger) had black on the plug tips.Not just that but the ceramic white part was yellowy around it.He mentioned those where NGK plugs which cost about $46 bucks at Auto Zone.I realised those were not the real NGK plugs which the dealer would have because they usually go for 11/12 bucks a piece.He then temporarily used NGK plugs from his former 91 legend and now the LS runs fine.I just cannot believe water will burn out some cheap plugs.I always gunk and spray mine without covering it and I have never had that problem.I even have AC delco plugs in mine.
Thanks guys!

Strida

Next time get yourself acquainted with WD-40, a rag and a tooth brush.

Pagong

This happened to my car yesterday (90 model year), I didnt even directly spray in the engine bay, I just sprayed some engine degreaser on a cloth towel and wiped that on some of the plastic and some engine components. And when I started the car, it felt like a vacuum hose wasnt connected. But after idling the car for about 5 minutes, the shaking and wierd rpm fluctuations disappeared.

So basically be careful when you wash your engine bay.

Shaffer

Spraying water on a late model engine is a "no-no". I have had several Toyotas and Hondas through the years and on the few I was crazy enough to wash - I always had problems for a week or two, especially on the Hondas, as they seem to be even more sensitive to water in the engine compartment. Just like Persian said- too many electrical components that can be ruined. Hopefully, after a while it will dry out, like it did on my cars and everything will go back to normal. It is OK to wash a older engine (1980s or older) because they do not have as many electrical components that can be destroyed. Perhaps the distributor cap is still wet inside or something.

awinata

I washed my car engine (LS400) and had the same problem (vibrations). Had my plugs replaced with NGK Iridium IV and, after a few days, the problem disappeared. (For some reason, it took a few days for the system to synchronize with the new plugs).

Cheers,