Cant leave well enough alone....

[6T9_CHARGER_RT]

The thread title is my ultimate downfall...I am my own worst enemy!

Felt my engine was a bit dirty so I invested $5 in a can of Engine Brite cleaner.....sprayed away & hosed off using water as sparingly as possible....

Started car up to dry it more after initial toweling off & progressively developed a misfire.
And wouldn't you know it, the check engine light came on as well....


So I proceeded to slam the hood & walked away

Hopefully will dry out overnight.

I will never learn to leave well enough alone....


Rant off....

 

[txredgt]

Last time I washed the engine bay which was just last weekend, immedately after washing it I had the air compressor out and going over the entire thing to help it get the water out and not just let it soak. It helps drying it as well as getting the water out of the wells faster.

 

[6T9_CHARGER_RT]

Well CEL was still on this AM & still had a misfire.

Disconnected the battery & cleared the CEL.

Started up the car & started pulling coil pack connectors one by one....

Found the 3rd cylinder from the front on the drivers side not firing....is it possible I shorted out the coil???

Connector is clean & dry now & it still doesnt fire.

Do you have to remove the fuel rail to take the coil off?

 

[trinity_gt]

Do you have to remove the fuel rail to take the coil off?

Nope. The coil can be weaseled out with the rails in place.

Swap the coil with an adjacent cylinder and see if the misfire follows the coil or stays with the original cylinder.

 

[6T9_CHARGER_RT]

Thanks...gonna try that in the AM...thankfully its on the easier side to do the swapping

 

[Maxpowers]

I thought you were going to say you screwed up the hood by slamming it, which is pretty easy to do.

 

[Flghtmstr1]

I've had a misfire before after cleaning the engine bay. What I did was drive it until it was nice and hot, then put it away for the night with the hood open to let it dry out thoroughly. The next morning, I started it up to drive to work, and the misfire was gone.

 

[6T9_CHARGER_RT]

Update-----

Pulled out coil from the cylinder that was "dead"---found boot soaked with water...dried it up & reinstalled. Misfire gone!
Only to return a few minutes later....
Pulled coil again....this time actually looked inside hole & found a lot of moisture inside. dried it out & reinstalled...all is right with the world again!
looks like for what ever reason, this boot was an aftermarket piece. All the others have the Ford logo on the boot....this one does not. All the coils are Motorcraft though...
NEVER washing the engine again!!

 

[04GTMustang]

Update-----

Pulled out coil from the cylinder that was "dead"---found boot soaked with water...dried it up & reinstalled. Misfire gone!
Only to return a few minutes later....
Pulled coil again....this time actually looked inside hole & found a lot of moisture inside. dried it out & reinstalled...all is right with the world again!
looks like for what ever reason, this boot was an aftermarket piece. All the others have the Ford logo on the boot....this one does not. All the coils are Motorcraft though...
NEVER washing the engine again!!

i was gonna say maybe the cleaner cleaned off the bird crap holdin these motors together haha just kiddin man. actually sea foam did that to my buddies civic hahaha it cleaned out the carbon build up then his motor blew a few days later hahaha i always told him that it wasnt the seafoams fault it just cleared the bird crap out of the motor.

 

[johnnyt03gt]

same thing happened to me. last summer i let it air overnight problem solved,

 

[1987stangman]

Should make a sticky out of this issue...

 

[mtmc]

I've always used a can of degreaser and a pressure washer with a 30 degree tip to clean up the engine/bay on all of my vehicles. I've never had a problem? I hold the wand back about 2 feet but it's still close enough to blow off the grime. I'd just let it air out and see if that works.

 

[Brute03]

yea i'm pretty much done cleaning my engine too, the end result always looks something like this

 

[6T9_CHARGER_RT]

Holee crap thats a lot of water! Mine wasnt filled up quite that much!!!!!!

 

['13_ImpactBlue_GT]

Holee crap thats a lot of water! Mine wasnt filled up quite that much!!!!!!

Get some Aerospace 303 protectorant and some micro-fibre cloths to clean your bay