So I just did an engine wash today...because I was excited about my new rims. I washed the whole car and detailed it at one of those pressure-wash-by-hand deals that take like $15 in quarters. I DID forget to cover the intake and distributor with a towel when I did it though (dammit!!) And for the past few hours the car has been running rough. I don't see any disconnected sensors, and the idle is rough even with the intake taken off, so it's not the fact that it was a little wet. Did the plugs get wet? Did a sensor short out? What did I dooooo??? I'm stuck and out of ideas.

PS) The fuses are all good, too.

 

The wires just got damp, nothing more. It will dry out and be fine.

 

I would give it over night,sometimes they will run a little rough if you try to drive them immediately after a power wash,i like to wash my engine at home with the regular hose/dishsoap/scrub brush...Then give it a few hours to dry before driving...

 

I've had the same thing happen, the car idled really rough after an engine wash. My transmission also waits to shift until about 4500 and then shifts really hard. Once the car dries out it all goes away.

 

What probably happened is water got onto the plugwires or coil or coil wire. These should dry in the air and start working O.K. If you blew water into the distributor cap, take the cap off and wipe it out with a towel. It may not dry out by itself if there's water in the cap (can't get out).

 

still running rough...I thought surely it'd be better by now?!

 

As someone already said,check under the distributor cap for moisture..

 

Mine did the same thing but this was when I had old wires that were bad. I took wires off and used a wet dry vac and stucked the water out of the ends of the plugs, this fixed mine.. Maybe worth trying

 

Hey dude, I wash my engine/bay at least once every 2-3 months and I've only had this problem ONCE back in September 06...my solution was to just adjust the IACV a tad bit. Weird that it was the IACV and not the wires or cap/rotor, but it fixed the problem.

 

I'll check out the IACV, but one of the first things I went to was the distributor. There's no water there though. When I removed my plug wires though, all the dielectric grease was gone and there were these little white pieces that came out of the plug wires that kind of looked like popcorn. I don't know if that's what dielectric grease turns into over time and with engine heat, but I've never seen that before. Either way, when I removed the plug wires and put them back on, the engine ran like normal for a few minutes, then went back to it's previous state. Grrr....I hate problems.

 

Sounds like you need new plug wires dude..

 

Go to advanced auto and get a set of MagStar plug wires well worth 45 bucks. They are 8.5mm Racing Style wires. Stock size is 7.2mm IIRC..

 

Yea it def does sound like wires.. I'd suggest the ones nForce, Alex V, and I have. They're only like 60 bucks (same price as OEM) they're 8.5mm instead of 7mm and they come in cool colors After getting those ****ers my car feels a lot better than with the cheap lifetime warranty ones..and I'm getting 19.5 - 24mpg ALL CITY which is usually 14-15mpg


EDIT: Hahaha nForce you beast you beat me to it! Another note, Advance Autoparts is gay so in order to get these wires you have to say 89-91 SE cuz appearantly they dont have em for 92-94 GXE. If you dont say so they "wont have em"

 

HA not mine.. It was under "SPECIAL ITEMS" ha advanced is but I paid 45 dollars so idk?

 

Oh yea that reminds me, I need to return those crappy xact's so I can get my money back. That way I'm only out of pocket like $15-20 and I have good plug wires....

Join the 8.5mm wire club, its worth it esp if you wash your engine alot.

~Alex

 

Really,it's best to not have plug wires at all..

 

My coil doesn't split. :P

~Alex

 

Ok you two, take the chatter to PM

 

I wish that were true
sadly the boots on most COP cars cost more than a set of wires.
I like DIS, but having a short wire length works better IMO.

 

You can check for wire shorts by looking in the engine compartment when it's dark. DON'T get your fingers or tie or whatever in the spinning things. It will hurt.
Try also using a mister or spray bottle to spray down the wires and cap with water. In the dark, a bad wire will display a blue flash as the spark leaks out prior to getting to the plug. This means the insulation is shot and new wires are the answer. This won't show an open circuuit due to breaks inside the wire, but that isn't what you are seeing. If the car runs bad after washing, it's probably due to a short. If it continues to run badly, after the wires dry out, then it may be trapped water, like in the cap. It's also possible that water on the coil tip or in the cap has dried but left a carbon track shorting out the spark (low probability, but if all else fails).