washed engine and now she runs terrible! HELP

[alexhoughton]

washed my motor with simple green and now it acts as if its missing on one cylinder. i changed the plug wires and tried plugs too. what should i do? ive checked all the connections i can find and made sure there all clean. It ran great before i did the wash. i put an oil pressure sending unit on it before i washed it too.(old one was junk) does that have anything to do with it? alternator is charging just fine also. ive checked over an over an over everything. someone please help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!:mad:

[Tom Rs]

Re: washed engine and now she runs terrible! HELP

could possibly me the coilpack

[alexhoughton]

Re: washed engine and now she runs terrible! HELP

she ran great tho before the wash-how could the coilpack of gone bad from water? does that happen?

[vanbibber]

Re: washed engine and now she runs terrible! HELP

yup, doesnt take much to mess up electrical stuff on a car. have them checked.

[93Bird_250k]

Re: washed engine and now she runs terrible! HELP

I went through the exact same situation recently. It did turn out to be moisture with the coil packs. All I had to do was pull the plug wires at the coil packs, spray both with electrical cleaner (I also took the opportunity to clean some of the corosion on the coil pack terminals) and the problem was solved. Also, be sure to disconnect the batter before doing all this and keep it disconnected for atleast 20-30 minutes. Let us know if this solves your problems. Good luck!

[Vanquish]

Re: washed engine and now she runs terrible! HELP

Check all sensors and coil packs, making sure none of them are wet or holding water. Especially your spark plugs

Getting sensors wet is a bad thing and you don't want to have that happen. That's why I don't see how people are brave enough to wash their engine bay unless they do it by hand................to all of you that have ever sprayed down your engine bay with water (the complete thing) and it still ran fine, I commend you and call you lucky.

[97rs4life]

Re: washed engine and now she runs terrible! HELP

Check all sensors and coil packs, making sure none of them are wet or holding water. Especially your spark plugs

Getting sensors wet is a bad thing and you don't want to have that happen. That's why I don't see how people are brave enough to wash their engine bay unless they do it by hand................to all of you that have ever sprayed down your engine bay with water (the complete thing) and it still ran fine, I commend you and call you lucky.

I spray mine down in the car wash, but I put plastic bags over the pcm, coils, air filter, and other exposed electrical stuff. Never had problems

[Vanquish]

Re: washed engine and now she runs terrible! HELP

I spray mine down in the car wash, but I put plastic bags over the pcm, coils, air filter, and other exposed electrical stuff. Never had problems

That' s different though. I've seen people dumb enough to just pop their hood and go at it with the degreaser at the car wash without covering any of the electrical up. At least you use your brain to cover up the important things that would cause a car to run like crap if they got wet.

[alexhoughton]

Re: washed engine and now she runs terrible! HELP

ok guys im not stupid- i did cover alot of sh*t up before i washed it. ive washed every motor on every car ive ever had and never had any probs. my next question is -is that a coomon prob? coilpacks going out from water? i checked all my wires with a spark tester and its weak spark on #5. plugs and wires have been replaced. so im thinkin its that one coilpack. thanks for all your suggestions- ive tried most all of them-let me know if you guys can think of anything else

[97rs4life]

Re: washed engine and now she runs terrible! HELP

coil packs going out due to water is a very common problem on our cars due to the position of them right under the cowl. So yes they are known to go out

[alexhoughton]

Re: washed engine and now she runs terrible! HELP

well hell-advance sells one(coilpack) for 23 bucks-im broke for like 2-3 days tho. and my freakin car is only runnin off of 5 cylinders-what a bummer. is it gonna hurt it to drive to work? i dont think it will but id like to hear what you guys think

[alexhoughton]

Re: washed engine and now she runs terrible! HELP

i wish i never woulda washed it!

[Tom Rs]

Re: washed engine and now she runs terrible! HELP

you should be fine to run it for the next few days

[candela]

Re: washed engine and now she runs terrible! HELP

There is a carwash by my house that sprays water up under your car as you pull in to the wash station. The two times (won't do it again) that I've been there, my CEL comes on as soon as I hear that water hit the car and it will sputter giving me a cyl 4 misfire. After a few mins of driving it does go away.

[gman2000]

Re: washed engine and now she runs terrible! HELP

That' s different though. I've seen people dumb enough to just pop their hood and go at it with the degreaser at the car wash without covering any of the electrical up. At least you use your brain to cover up the important things that would cause a car to run like crap if they got wet.

I guess I'm one of those dumbies.:) I pop the hood spray the engine, firewall and everything under the hood with engine cleaner. Then take a hose and spray the hell out of it. I've had no problems in years. Besides if water under the hood is going to cause a problem I would like to know before I get in a hard rain.