ok, so I've been having cooling problems recently (its been peaking 100º heat index, 90º temps), and I thought it was just my alternator. I put my car up on jack stands on Sunday and changed the oil and tightened my alternator belt (it *was* loose), and then, with the negative cable off the battery, I power washed the engine bay. When I had given the car sufficient time to dry out (1.5hrs+), I put it back down on the ground and started it up, only to have the car sound something horrible: almost no idle, white smoke coming out of exhaust, putred stench from exhaust, entire car shakes from the bad idle, and it has an odd flutter when I keep the idle at 1000 with my foot on the pedal. So far I've replaced: spark plugs, spark wires, distribtor cap & rotor and I've re-changed the oil. It still isnt running right Any help? And please dont tell me she's dead Thanks

Greg

 

I think youre having a big miss if it sputters and shakes could be a cylinder fludded or maybe dead. If it was having a heating problem it couldve been the thermostat malfunction, Coolant is old, Radiator malfunction or Leak or water pump dead or leaking. Those wouldve been the top things to check. Its good you changed all the other stuff Make sure timing is right on the money and idle speed is correct. Anyone else got any good ideas?

 

yeah, my brother, who is a mechanic in training for Nissan, suggested that the cylinders might be flooded... we pulled out the sparks and cranked it to clear out some of the fluid, which it did, but apparently it didnt do a lot.. we also pulled out the fuel injector fuse, and the car STILL STARTED - several times at that... albeit, it ran like ***... but it still cranked over and ran for a few seconds at its own idle.. I think I'm going to have to figure out how to check the timing for the engine... my big problem is that I dont want to drive it the couple of miles in traffic to my mechanic, but I also cant afford a tow.. Its driveable.. but I dont want to do it, you know? I'm worried something is just going to blow or cease or something, and then I'm really fuct. As long as she's still running, I feel I've got a chance to save her, and I so want her to keep running! She's 206k young!! Thanks for the advice, max88q. The coolant flush is on the top of my list once I get her running right again. I just wish I could win the lotto or something so I could treat her right!! Come on megamillions!!!

Greg

 

You have to be careful whenever you go ahead and wash out the engine. I believe there are some sensors that you need to cover with a plastic bag or something. It could be that you damaged one of those sensors whenever you washed the engine.

I'd check the computer codes to see if there are any bad sensors, cause they could certainly cause the problems that you are having. I know for a fact that liquid will destroy the mass air flow sensor, but it would be pretty hard to get water into that since it's connected to the airbox.

-C-

 

how do I get the computer codes? I very well could have damaged some sensors when I washed the engine and yeah, the MAF would be pretty car to damage w/ water since I had the airbox shut tight.
Thanks Charles.

Greg

 

Ok I remember one time when I took my car to Precision Tune Which I will never do again. They flooded one of my cylinders out and made a huge mess in the compartment which was cleaned out by them. But they flooded the engine and got it back working again. I was soo ****ed. But when they put the spark plugs back in they didnt put an o ring clamp or something in so it made the car sputter miss and all. I was so ****ed. I came in for there three point Fuel system cleaning and came out with my car like crap. At the time they didnt know what was wrong so I took it to the nissan dealership and is all it was misplaced was when they put the spark plug in they forgot the clip in Cylinder 5 so it missed and made it dead. It was a 3.64 clip that cost Precision tune 36.00 to fix for me. I was Happy and I will never ever go there again. Ok, so my basic point is check each Spark plug to make sure or the spark plug in the cylinder that was flooded and make sure that the little o-ring or clip that goes with the Spark Plug is in. That little thing that was missing made my cylinder 5 go dead so make sure everything is back on. Replace them if not looking too good. Hopefully this will Help you out.

 

yeah, I replaced all 6 sparks and the spark wires, they all have the little ring on them. One or more of the cylinders might be flooded though (actually, one or more of them is almost definately flooded...) how do I clean that out? Do I pull the plugs out, pull out the injector fuse and crank the starter so it sprays it out? Or am I going to have to take it to a mech to get it drained??

 

To have it all spray out I wouldnt recommend . I mean it works but its messy. Id say get it drained professionally. That has to be your culprit.

 

wooooooo!!!!! It was my MAF! It was pretty wet... dried it out with a paper towel (the bottom half) and blew the top half dry with compressed air, she runs fine now ^_^ well, actually, she seems to run a bit different, but not by much, and its probably b/c of the new plugs, wires and distributor. WOOOOO!!! Thanks for the help guys

Greg

 

wow good job and find I wouldnt have guessed. Ill keep that in mind if anything was to go wrong with my car.

 

Yeah, I knew that a wet mass air flow sensor can cause trouble, but I didn't think you could get it wet from spraying water on the outside of it. My MAF sensor went bad when the Air Injection Valve (AIV) went bad. It connects to the airbox via a small hose that attaches to the side of it. Anyway, it started to dump water or some kind of fluid into the airbox which then went into the MAF and destroyed it. I'd make sure that your AIV isn't doing the same thing. You'd see a small puddle of water at the bottom of the airbox if the AIV is the culprit. If it is, just disconnect that hose from the airbox immediately. I don't think the AIV does much (maybe some emissions reduction), as my car runs perfectly fine without it, no loss in gas mileage, and it actually seems as though I have a bit more power.

Oh, in order to check the computer codes, pull the ECU out from underneath the passenger seat. There's a screw that you have to turn the whole way to the right. Wait until both the red and green lights blink three times, then turn it back to the left. Then it'll blink a certain number of times to tell you what is wrong with the car. A manual would help you diagnose the problem, but someone also posted what the codes mean on this forum to give you some basic idea of what is wrong.

-C-