Washed My Engine And May Have Accidentally Messed Something Up. Need Help
Posted in Headlight Bulbs | Asked on Jul 15, 2011
I washed the engine on my 1998 Honda Civic with engine degreaser and covered up the electrical wires (or at least I thought I covered most of them up). I avoided any electrical items and rinsed my engine down carefully. Well, when I started my car up the speedometer was going nuts and my console lights, dome light and headlights started dimming and flashing. The last time the speedometer did this it eventually went away, but with the dimming of the lights I’m worried that it may be my alternator which I had replaced about a year ago. My car will start up but when I cut my headlights on it dies. Did I maybe get the battery wet and is it the battery or do you think it may be the alternator? The battery is about 4 and a half years old and it may be time to replace it. I’m just hoping it’s the battery and not alternator since the last time lights started flashing and dimming on me it turned out my alternator was bad. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
There are 9 Answers for "Washed My Engine And May Have Accidentally Messed Something Up. Need Help"
I think you’ve grounded some wires in your car. similar thing happened to mine, but eventually it went ok, guess the water dried, im not sure though. Wait for other replies to your question and if none of them seems to answer you directly, call any car shop or try going to the popular mechanics website and head to car maintenance
If you dont urgently need to go somewhere you need to let your car sit for a lil while.. that should help it if it doesnt talk to a shop about that problem
If you have access to an air compressor, try to blow off any electrical connections. water will, in time, evaporate, if the compressed
air does not work, drive the vehicle, the heat from the engine will dry out the wiring.
I think you should allow the car to idle with the hood down and all lights off. Any contaminated moisture should evaporate after about a half an hour. If you have an air gun, it would be good to spray all connectors that you can see (especially on or near the headlights) and check for any bare wires.
It would be easier to find a mechanic in your area and for a small fee they could zero in on it. auto zone in the midwest does this for free.
More than likely you just have a short caused by water. Take an air gun to it as well as run your engine for a while. Just a tip, the next time you wash your engine, do it while the engine is running.
Water would not affect your battery in that way, but it would affect your electrical units. try the air compressor to blow out any excess water it may have in there. actually pull the plugs from your lights, alternator, coil pack and plug wires and blow them out. blow some air through the alternator as well and spray the plugs with wd40 before replacing them.
It’s not your battery. You got water inside those Honda quality water tight connectors. Open all your connectors and use a hair dryer to dry them up. Those connectors will rust soon and you can expect more (simular) problems. I strongly suggest taking it to a Honda dealer to get a good job done.
Tommorrow you should be able to start it but next time wash your engine while its running but first go out there and turn the key on..wait for ten minutes and then start it.The waiting will dry it and resolve the problem.