# Washed my engine. Poor idle, cutting out



## crazymikey (May 30, 2010)

Hey guys. 

I washed the engine bay of my 91 Jetta yesterday using an aerosol foaming engine cleaner. The instructions just state to spray it everywhere and then rinse it off. 

So, it came time to rinse and I did NOT cover up any electrical or ignition components. I simply lightly rinsed the engine bay down with the hose. 

After letting the car sit, I went to start it up. Fired up no problem, easily rev to 4000rpm, but then all of a sudden it completely bogged down, and idled poorly, as if it is misfiring. It's a VERY lumpy idle, and if you do not keep pressing the gas pedal, it will just bog out. If you play with the pedal, you can flucuate maybe 500 revs, but it refuses to rev anymore and the car is not driveable when it is running like this. 

For the life of me I cannot find out what is wrong. I actually went as far as going to the wreckers and replacing the plug wires, distributor and coil. I also pulled my plugs out to try and unflood the motor incase any water had gotten in the cylinders. 

However, the odd part is that while the car is idling poorly and running like a bag of smashed *******s, all of a sudden it will begin to idle normally and then it runs fine and is drivable as if nothing is wrong. 

Go for a drive, let it sit for a while, start it again and it will do it all over again. 

Any ideas what is going on? :banghead:


----------



## ziddey (Apr 16, 2006)

If it still does it tomorrow, watch the ignition parts after it gets dark to see if you can see arcing. Have you popped the cap off to inspect inside. Dried out the cap? No water should have gotten into the cylinders. If not an ignition problem, check other sensor wires/plugs, namely AFM/CTS/O2S.


----------



## JPX (Nov 6, 2005)

ziddey said:


> If it still does it tomorrow, watch the ignition parts after it gets dark to see if you can see arcing. Have you popped the cap off to inspect inside. Dried out the cap? No water should have gotten into the cylinders. If not an ignition problem, check other sensor wires/plugs, namely AFM/CTS/O2S.


 I agree - water around electrical parts is possibly messing with you. Dist cap and O2 sensor stick out in my mind. 

Other things to check that could be affected: 

1. GROUNDS - a bad ground makes the car run badly if at all. 
- the big cable from the battery to the transmission. Unbolt, clean with a wire brush and retighten. 
- the small braided strap from the ignition coil to the valve cover. Unbolt, clean with a wire brush and retighten BOTH ENDS 

2. VACUUM LEAKS along tubing and boots. 
- One of the things about cleaning grease off the engine is in some cases, the grease is actually helping stifle a leak somewhere. Clean the grease off and you expose a leak. 

3. ALTERNATOR - see if you can have this tested if you you hit it hard with water/cleaner.


----------



## crazymikey (May 30, 2010)

Thanks for the replies guys. 

It did it only once today in the 5 times I started the car. Lastnight I ran to pick a part and grabbed a used distributor, cap, rotors and plug wires as well as a coil and installed all of those items. The car still ran rough for about 1 minute before it kicked in and was fine. 

I will check all my grounds and hoses. Alternator should be fine, I try to keep away from them when washing engines because my dad fried the alternator in my old Celica a few yeas ago when he pressure washed it.


----------



## JPX (Nov 6, 2005)

Rockon - glad it worked out!


----------



## crazymikey (May 30, 2010)

well, not so good now.... 

Car was running just fine. I shut it off and started it back up and it started to bog out a little bit. Pressed the gas, and it had all the same symptoms as before. It farts and sputters and puts, occasional backfire, sounds like its running on one cylinder and the motor is about to fall out. 

I bolted my coil back in place and attached the ground wire to it. Took dielectric grease and put it on almost all electrical plugs and connections. Swapped out my distrubutor, cap and rotor (from my original one to a used one, and then swapped back again due to no difference in results). 

Now, since I have done those 3 things, the car will not start. It just sits there and cranks. Seems like weak or no spark. If you hold the key to start it, it will crank and then it seems to hit a flat or dead spot and making a mechanical clicking noise as if a gear is skipping a tooth. However, it had never done this before, so I'm very confused as to why it is doing this. The car ran great today, so I don't understand why sometimes it'll behave the way it is, and other times it'll run as if nothing is wrong. My spark plugs also look quite fouled and will change them this weekend. 

I had a Honda Accord that had a problem just like this. I had replaced the tstat and then the car wouldnt start. Took me forever to figure out what the hell was wrong with it. Turned out I didnt connect a ground wire. 

I'm stumped, frustrated and confused. Any input? I'm also a bit of a VW n00b, so I'm not very familiar with VW engines.


----------



## rjev (May 29, 2009)

sounds like something funny happened to a ground wire somewhere. did you inspect the main ground wires themselves, checked for exposed wiring/breaks/etc.? it's possible you had one about to fail and the washing finally knocked it apart. I would replace all the grounds with new wire. even if that's not the problem it's a good idea anyway in a 20-year old car.


----------



## crazymikey (May 30, 2010)

the motor has been rebuilt and there are so many loose wires and poor connections with electrical tape and/or electrical marrettes that it's hard to even know where to begin. 

However, as I had stated, the car was running fine until I shut it off, then put dielectric grease on most of the connections and then it would not start afterwards. 

Today I put new plugs in it and sprayed ignition dry stuff on it and it still just sits and cranks with no signs of wanting to fire.:what:


----------



## crazymikey (May 30, 2010)

So, I have spark, but no start. Just cranking. Also seems to be flooding itself for some reason. Every time I pull the plugs out and they are soaked in fuel. I then crank the motor over with no plugs in it and dry off the plugs. Ive taken out the fuel pump fuse when unflooding, but I'm still stumped. The car will sometimes crank and backfire alot, but it's not wanting to run.:banghead:


----------



## ziddey (Apr 16, 2006)

You may have fried the digifant ecu (bad ground). That usually causes the injectors to dump. 

I think I remember there being a guide on how to repair burnt digifant ecus, but I doubt it's been imported to vbull.


----------



## crazymikey (May 30, 2010)

everything ive found on resetting the ecu requires the car to be running...and mine does everything but that lol. 

I just dont understand that one minute th ecar was running perfectly fine....then I shut it off, put dielectric grease on alot of the connections and then after that, it just sits there and cranks and floods now. :sly:


----------



## ziddey (Apr 16, 2006)

you can only reset a working ecu. your ecu may be fried. junkyard is probably your best bet for another one.


----------



## crazymikey (May 30, 2010)

There is a Jetta Flair at the yard and the ECU is sitting on the drivers seat. Almost grabbed it today...should have. I'll go back tomorrow. However it says Digifant II on it, and I'm not sure if that is the same as mine? 

Today I cleaned the battery terminals, the wire connections on the terminals, the ground behind the battery tray and the ground on the side of the motor and on the coil and still nothing. My car ha sbeen cranked over so much the past few days I finally killed the battery and need to find my charger. 

I also unhooked the coolant temp sensor to see if that would help and that did not do anything. The most I can get th ecar to do is backfire occasionally when cranking, but still no start. :what:


----------



## jorge r (Apr 27, 2006)

I'd try starting it without the air filter so it gets all the air it wants, place the palm of the hand over the intake to make sure it sucks air in. 
Rebuilt engine- go back and check the timing. 
Nice problem on your hands


----------



## crazymikey (May 30, 2010)

yes it is a BS problem. I just put a new ECU in it today and stil all it does is crank and backfire.

Next step wil be starting without the filter.

Otherwise, I'm at my wits end, frustrated as hell and about to set the damn thing on fire.


----------



## ziddey (Apr 16, 2006)

removing the air filter won't do anything.

have you tried starter fluid to rule fueling one way or the other?

is your spark blue or yellow? all 4 plugs are sparking?


----------



## jorge r (Apr 27, 2006)

yup, like water in the system, put a match to a wet sparkplug


----------



## crazymikey (May 30, 2010)

yup, i have good spark, all 4 wires spark. I've tried quick start sprayed into the intake and I take a lighter to the plugs after trying to start it each timebecause they keep getting covered in fuel.

The only parts I havent replaced yet are the coolant temp sensor, which seems like that could be all the problem is, or my 02 sensor.

I think the most likely cause is the coolant temp sensor, seeing how it sits right on top and would have easily gotten wet.


----------



## crazymikey (May 30, 2010)

So, turns out since I replaced that distributor, my timing was waaaayyyy retarded. Having a friend crank over the car and me twisting the dizzy resulted in the car starting right up.

Needs to be timed properly, but it is back and running again! I knew it was something stupid and simple.


----------



## jorge r (Apr 27, 2006)

Ah, the simple things in life


----------



## crazymikey (May 30, 2010)

yeah,however is did cost me $500...bought $100 worth of new parts and a $400 car to drive until I fixed it.


----------



## Glegor (Mar 31, 2008)

prolly had water in the dizzy. pull cap, turn on its side or point straight up (so the wires point down) and let the moisture out. and then never wash your gas vw again. my car would act up badly when ever i gave the engine a bath. i had better luck taking the wires and cap all the way off then washing my engine. hahaha


----------



## jorge r (Apr 27, 2006)

*washing the engine*

You washed a recently rebuilt engine, you must have your reasons. My engine's probably cleaner than the car. Seldom after washing it, a little steam may condense inside the distributor cap, I just dry the cap off when it shows signs, use silicone gel (tune-up grease) after each plug change.
I thought your timing might've slipped on your rebuilt engine. Things settle in rebuilt engines and may loosen.


----------



## turbochachi (Dec 2, 2008)

crazymikey said:


> well, not so good now....
> 
> Car was running just fine. I shut it off and started it back up and it started to bog out a little bit. Pressed the gas, and it had all the same symptoms as before. It farts and sputters and puts, occasional backfire, sounds like its running on one cylinder and the motor is about to fall out.
> 
> ...



test yout ignition controle module


----------



## fishman5301 (Mar 24, 2012)

Just gotta remember to cover them electrical components up, and blow out the standing water with a compressor. Happens to the best of us


----------

