HELP!!!!!!!!

ban-one

Member
Mar 30, 2005
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ny
i took my gt to the car wash today its a 2000, i washed it down and washed the engine lightly from a distance when i went to leave it was running like a 3 cylinder volkswagon,with a nice loud sputter, i felt the ex pipes and the driver one was nice and strong the pass one was so weak like nothing was comming out of it. i took all the cops off and cleanded and wd-40 them and it still runs horrible? what could i have gotten wet that would make my car run so horrible? it literally wont go over 3 grand or 40 miles an hour and if i touch the gas more than a tap it bogs out and pratically dies. i need some info fast.!!!!!!:bang:
 
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Whenever you spray an engine down like that, you always risk getting water into a connector which can really mess things up. What I would probably try first is get a can of air or electrical cleaner and clean all the connectors to be sure there is no water inside. If your computer threw a code this would make it easier as you would be able to figure out which sensor to try cleaning out first. Worst case I can think of is you permantly damaged a sensor and will need to replace it. I had something similar happen with my dad's 91 Ranger. I took it to the car wash to clean the engine bay out, got some water into the coolant temp sensor and it made the readings go haywire. I dried the connector out and the guage stopped reading like the engine was overheating.

This is why I now just use either a wet towl or a spray bottle of simple green. I'll clean off hoses, plastics and such and avoid electrical connectors.
 
This first: Anytime you spray your engine, cover your air filter, alternator, coil packs, basically all electronic stuff so that it does not get wet with trash bags. There's no telling what all you sprayed but it's probably water in your spark plug wells or the coil packs. One thing you can do that may fix your problem (assuming nothing is ruined) is to take a leaf blower and dry the engine very well then see if it runs better. Disconnect the battery too and re-connect it (i've done that before and it worked) ...

FWIW, every time I wash my engine, which isn't often, I have problems afterwards. That is with covering the electrical stuff I mentioned earlier. If you don't cover that stuff then I can almost guarantee you will have problems.
 
i took all the cop off and cleaned relubed and reinstalled them now it runs alot better but it still sounds like a cylinder is missing hopefully overnite it might dry out whereever the water is and will run better.
 
I've never sprayed any of my car's under the hood, always in fear of running into a problem. The most I do is maybe gunk a little, when first getting a vehicle, but, for the most part I clean it all little by little and by hand. Little more work, but, it'll be cleaner, and wont run the risk of damaging anything. Another plus, is when I clean my engine and compartment(3-4 times/year) I take my time and get it real nice, and in the process I spot any problems that may arise, ahead of time. Like vacum lines or hoses being bad, belt...wiring protection etc etc.