Question about washing the engine bay.

[pyr02k1]

I have a question and want to make sure I'm not absolutely nuts here. The car in question is an 89 Corolla, 2bbl Carb engine. My wife has owned this car for roughly 5 years or so, and to date, its been fine. No serious issues at all with it that werent easily fixed. It has a brand new Starter and Alternator. New distributor and cap. Replaced Thermostat. Thats all the work this car has needed in the entire 5 years beyond the obvious (Oil, radiator flush and Transmission Fluid as needed). It's been on nothing but Fram Oil filters and Air filters in this whole time and used Castrol or Valvoline (Cant recall which) High mileage 10w30 the entire time.

The car has only 129000 miles on it.

We sold this yesterday, literally, 1 day ago as of 8pm today. The guy who was purchasing it claimed to be a Mechanic w/ his unit in the Air Force. Didnt specify which, but a mechanic is what he said he was. He test drove the car once for roughly 2 miles or so and all was well (as it has been for 4 years). He drove it from our apartment to his (maybe 1/4 mile, 1/2 mile max) and it worked fine. No issues what so ever. It started just fine both times, it started when she drove it daily. It started on my time driving it (once a week to keep the fluids moving and started every 2 days in between), and it started when another guy test drove it. Not one problem.

Today, he took the car to the car wash, wash it yourself car wash (so obviously it was fine when he left, as that place is about 8 minutes away with lights and such, maybe 3-4 miles or so). His wife called me and my wife at around 8pm to say the car wouldn't start and that they'd called AAA. I offered to come down and give him a jump start and we went down to the car wash to find he'd sprayed down under the hood as well. Even the tow truck driver mentioned in passing to my wifes friend, who was with us, that it wasnt going to start because it was soaked. I saw water everywhere in that engine compartment.

So the question is... whats causing the problem? He claims that he took off the distributor cap and it was dry, and the spark plug boots, and it was dry. I seriously doubt it with how much water was under that hood. He actually said it was our fault, even though it worked fine for him 3 times so far without one problem, even a sputter. What do you guys thinks causing it? How long will it take to completely dry out the engine compartment? (It'll only be 70 or so here tomorrow, as California hates to be warmer when it could be of use)

Any helps appreciated,
--pyr0

[REN69]

Someone else here is having the same problem after washing the motor, the car won't start... everyone is still trying to figure out why.

Tough luck, you don't wash an engine and then expect it to work properly... chances are something got shortened, fuses blown, who knows... it could be anything but for sure it was caused by washing the engine.

I also washed my engine once and the car did not run fine for at least a week, I had to let the car dry off and even had to vacuum water out of the sparkplug valley.

[pyr02k1]

I figured that was the cause. I know better to take anything but hand washing to a motor, especially without blocking off anything that could get water into it. As a mechanic, you'd of expected him to know that much, but I guess not. I cleaned the engine itself about a year ago, by hand with plenty of left over rags. But I never once took any cleaners or water next to anything that could cause a leak. And I made sure it'd been sitting all day so it wouldn't burn me, but to dump water on a hot engine like he did just comes off to be a seriously bad idea.

No matter, Thanks much for the answer,
--pyr0

[Flashmn]

Obviously if you wash it with a power washer at a narrow jet you can get in trouble.

So far I've washed the benz with the power washer as its modern, everything is real protected and its got a COP ignition.

Whilts the corolla I've only washed with a fan jet, as you never know where the water gets into

He actually said it was our fault

Tell him to f*ck off. Sold As-is, he's buying an old car, but expecting a new one. I doubt he's a mechanic, but hey, everybody almost claims to be a mechanic. A mechanic would of fixed that or known whats wrong.

[pyr02k1]

Originally Posted by Flashmn

Tell him to f*ck off. Sold As-is, he's buying an old car, but expecting a new one. I doubt he's a mechanic, but hey, everybody almost claims to be a mechanic. A mechanic would of fixed that or known whats wrong.

The best part to his being a mechanic ... hes in the Air Force. Are these really the people we'd like working on our Gov't Vehicles on our dollar. Even funnier to it all, hes a Staff Sergeant or Tech Sgt. Cant remember which, but that takes some time to reach.

We more or less told him to f*ck off. We didnt want to come off as complete pricks, but in the end thats where it'll end up.

[Ghostyman]

Wow, lots of scary talk on here.

I wash the engine bays in all my cars with my hose. I don't cover anything except (sometimes) the distributor. Done it dozens of times now.

The only real problem areas are the spark plug boots and the distributor. If they get water in them, you may have problems until it dries out. MR2s (for instance) are notorious for running poorly after a car wash because the vented engine lid lets water onto the valve cover and it can get in the spark plug boots.

If you know what you are doing, washing an engine with water is not a dangerous thing at all.

Dollars to doughnuts, if he dries out the cap and wires and the car will start.

[Donald]

Every time I change my oil, I spray out my engine compartment with the garden hose. No problems.
I usually make sure my distributor cap seal, and that my ignition wires are good.
Those are usually the first things I change when I buy a car.

[igonuts2]

this used to happen to me on old detriot iron (points, i know you don't have points). pull the cap and spray WD-40 in there. you don't need to drench it but dont be shy either. do the same w/ the plug boots. if it still wont start, he probably has a fouled plug. if you spray WD-40 in those areas before a wash you shouldn't have any issues.
its a good idea to use WD-40 in distributors at every tune up.

we had a harley rep come into our bike shop back in the early '70s. took the point cover of a bike, sprayed it w/ WD-40, started the bike and proceeded to spray the points w/ water. the bike didn't skip a beat.

[ericdude]

With a private sale of a used vehicle, the car is "as is". That means it
could fall into 100 pieces as the buyer rolls out of your driveway, and
legally you'd be as pure as the driven snow.

That being said, you want to be a nice guy and support the troops. That's
fine, but realize you have no obligation. If the guy washed the engine
hot, he could have even cracked the block; did he wait for it to cool
after driving the 8 minutes? You can't be responsible for every stupid
thing this guy does.

[Createdtoburn]

hahaha. Yeah I'm sure the guy is a real "mechanic". Dumb idea. If you're going to wash a carburated engine you have to make sure not to let any air get into the intake! I bet he sucked a bunch of water down it and drowned out the engine. Also like said above, it's always smart to let the engine cool down first, cover any parts that shouldn't be wet, and make sure you let the engine dry up before starting it again.

Even having wet spark plug wires can cause them to jump electricity back and forth between eachother and cause the engine not to start properly (seen it done on my 86 Mustang years ago).

I just took my 89 Corolla GTS (4AGE) to the wash the other day, and sprayed every single part of the engine bay with degreaser (except the air intake) and then sprayed it all down with water, let it dry up, wiped off the plug wires, and it started right up no problems.

So yeah tell the dude to go screw him self, trying to say it's your guy's fault. That's hilarious. Just tell him to make sure everything is dry and keep trying. Hopefully he didn't screw anything up. Check all the fuses too just in case, you never know.

Hope that helps!

[Ghostyman]

Originally Posted by Createdtoburn

If you're going to wash a carburated engine you have to make sure not to let any air get into the intake! I bet he sucked a bunch of water down it and drowned out the engine.

Huh?

In ANY car, you don't want to flood the intake with water or you can hydrolock the engine. Carb vs EFI doesn't matter. And there's really no way of doing this unless you have the car running with the throttle open and the hose going directly into the intake.

I spray water into my running engine to clean it. No harm.

Originally Posted by Createdtoburn

make sure you let the engine dry up before starting it again.

Why? I hose off the degreaser then fire the car up and drive it for a couple miles. The combination of heat and moving air dries the engine quicker and the water is less likely to pool in places. If I'm feeling really expansive, I blow the engine off with a leaf blower first.

[Flashmn]

That being said, you want to be a nice guy and support the troops.

I dont see how this is "supporting the troops" Just because someone is in the military doesnt automatically give the excuse to use "you arent supporting the troops" if you screw up something yourself. ... :P

Atleast you guys have a choice to join the military, I'm an ex conscript :P