a warning for washing your enging

[SnowMan]

I had been experiencing a miss for about a week. Only thing is, it was intermittent. It seamed to only happen every other day and only when I got on it. I took my mechanic for a ride and he felt it, however when ever we hooked the computer to it, we couldn't reproduce the problem. My mechanic changed the fuel rail pressure sensor due to the fact that it has caused a lot of problems for Cobra owners; still no fix.
Today I decided to change the plugs and that’s when I discovered two plugs were rusted badly on top, where the coil packs connect. The electrodes were fine...
The cover plate that covers the plugs and coil packs has a seal which is designed to keep the elements out, however it wasn't working. There must have been a cup of water under the driver’s side cover plate. The last time I washed my engine was two weeks ago.
I love my car and like to be clean, and that includes the engine. At this point, I will just use a wet rag. Just thought I would share..
:nono:

 

[Juiced-03]

Thanks! I clean my engine about once a month but only with a fine mist. Glad to hear no serious damage was done. I am changing my plugs next week so I guess I will see how mine are doing.

 

[Sonic 03 Cobra]

Did you use pressure? There is a neoprene seal between the plate and the valve cover that should keep out *normal* hose pressures. But as always you have to use caution.

That being said, I've had to rebuild my share of distributor caps because they leaked when I washed the motor. Just gotta be careful.

Atleast you didn't do any real damage from the miss!

 

[DRIVINGLESSON]

No I didn't use pressure, just a garden hose and nozzle. Also I dont drench the motor down, just a quick rince. The seal is what leaked. it appered to be intact. I only had water in the drivers side. Sorry about the screen name, it's a friends...

 

[94SHO]

I had the same problem one time..I used a little pressure while washing the engine bay..Never again will i do that..Just cleaning supplies for my engine now.

 

[lwantSonicBlue]

The same thing happend to my 97 gt at the detail shop. I had to replace the plugs and wires and then it went away.

 

[flyn high again]

I think it's more a case of your gasket leaking than washing itself being the problem. Of course, avoiding high pressure water spraying on the electrical areas is always a good idea.

 

[Brad]

Anytime I mess with the plugs I make sure to crank that cover down very tight. I've washed my motor about 20 times by just popping the hood, and pressure washing, then I dry with an air gun with 150PSI behind it, no issues yet.

 

[Wild Bill]

Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Dana]

On the rear of the cover there is a grommet that has to be positioned just right to prevent water from entering. You must do this when replacing the cover or it will not line up properly. It isn't difficult to do, you just have to remember to do it.

Dana

 

[DRIVINGLESSON]

Yeah Dana, your right about the grommet. I took some time in ensuring that I got it alligned just right. Maybe when they assembled the motor they didn't do it right. I am going to continue to clean my motor, I will just do the valve covers with a rag from no on...

 

[Silver 03 Cobra]

I don't think it's the gasket. It's plug on the coil lines on the end of the cover plate. Not only do you have to be carfull washing your engine but also icing your heads, intake or blower. Somehow apparently my towel got moved during my dyno session for nitrous and water got on my rear driver's side coil. My baseline pull ran fine. On the second pull with spray, I had the line in the end of the filter. The car cut out awfully. I moved the nitrous line in front of the TB and it still cut out. I figured it was my plugs. On the way home the car ran fine. I didn't push it. The next day I started notcing a bad miss when the car was lugging at low revs in a taller gear. Under WOT you could barely notice it. I cleaned the MAF sensor and swapped it out. Still did the same thing. I had bought a set of plugs in case I had fouled them but didn't really think that was it. I've fouled plugs on my sport bike and it wouldn't run at any throttle condition. I was about to swap out the computer with another 03. I decided to swap the plugs before I did that and found the water in the coil/plug. I've seen this on two other 03's apparently from icing the blower. You can't get sloppy witht he towwels and ice especially in hot weather.