Got engine wet, now I have a miss.

[Racer X]

Title pretty much says it all. I sprayed the front valve cover with what I thought was a minimal amount of water, and now I've got a nice miss. A couple of things though...

The miss is kinda intermittant, in so much that it comes and goes. One second it'll feel ok, and the next it's back to no power. Back and forth. The other is that it's backfiring a bit, which is something that the car has never done to me. Ever.

Now, is this the result of things getting wet, or has my crank cancer taken its toll and thrown the engine so far out of time that it's a lost cause?

 

[Ishodu]

Pull the wires and clean the water out of the plug wells.

 

[Racer X]

I did. Miss is still there.

 

[Mike93]

Check your plugs...water can seap down the threads and foul them out. I've done this before too...

 

[SolidState]

Racer X,

I had the same thing happen to me....I washed my engine bay, and the car immediatly developed a miss. I got home, pulled all the water out of the plug wells, and it still had a miss. I left it over night, and by morning all was well....

I should add this was the night before I ran a 15.3 at Lapeer...

 

[SHOtimer]

Now, is this the result of things getting wet, or has my crank cancer taken its toll and thrown the engine so far out of time that it's a lost cause?

That wouldn't cause a miss, however I'd be addressing it.

Doug

 

[Racer X]

Well, I'll see how things are in a couple of hours. And I am adressing the crank cancer issue. Check my sig, you'll know what I mean.

 

[Mels]

Ooof. Your symptoms sound exactly like what I've been dealing with for just about one year, Hamal, with the exception of intentionally spraying the engine. Mine developed last Summer at a run during which it poured HARD and my wonderful little cinci hood allowed a LOT of water to dump on my engine.

Like you I've done the plugwell route but it has made no improvement. I'm really curious what you end up finding, please keep us posted.

 

[1993MTXSHO]

This is making me curious to now since I jsut bought a cowl hood. I guess im goign to slow it down a lot in the rain so not as much water goes in and maybe stop when it downpours. SHO's wipers cant keep up in downpours anyway haha.

 

[Racer X]

So I pulled the front 3 this morning, cleaned them a bit, put them back in, and for the first 7 or 8 miles, I thought I was golden...

By the time I made it to the Bronx, loading the engine in the higher gears at low RPM would make it miss. Back off, and it goes away. Starting from a light in 1st, it'll stumble and backfire in the intake, and start to smooth out as the RPM's rise and the load lessens. I've got it narrowed down to one cylinder (front bank, drivers side), but if I pull the wire while the engine is running, it's sparking, and at idle there's no miss.

What the F is going on here?

 

[LJRuddy]

The same problem happened to me before i replaced plugs and wires... I dont know how water could of damaged the wire but try putting anoter wire on that plug and see if it still has the same problems.

 

[Black '93]

Dude, what you need to do is inspect your plug wires very good.. Make sure that there are no cracks in the boot part of the wire. Look next to the rubber that rests at the top of the plug well, because somtimes the boot will have a crack in it and you won't notice it unless you look very closely. I would buy new plugs and new wires. If you can't afford it, just buy new plugs but take the wires off and lightly whack the boot against something to knock any water out from the inside. Water can and will get into the wiring inside the boot if there is any crack on the top of the boot or if water gets inside the boot from the plug well. You most definitley fouled the plugs too so cleaning them off isn't going to do any good.. Just buy some new ones...I've delt with this problem about 3 times before and every time it happened new plugs fixed it. My boot was cracked and water got into the top of my plugwire, so I had to get the water out by sliding the boot off and letting it dry out for a couple hours..
SHO motors and water don't mix.

 

[Racer X]

Well, at lunch I took it all apart again, and this time I used new dielectric grease in the boots after shaking the bejesus out of it, and so far so good! I haven't headed home, but the running around from site to site I've done today, it hasn't missed once no matter what I try.

I'll post again once I'm back in Queens (I work in Westchester County).

 

[Minnesho]

one of my rear boots has a huge crack in it. I used to have a nice set of 8mm wires, but I had a party once and they seem to have disapeared... now i just have to find out who else was at the party that owned a SHO

 

[Racer X]

Yup, the DE grease did it.

And yes, I've learned the hard way. SHO V6 + forced water = teh lose

 

[Mels]

Thanks Hamal, I'll have to give that a shot

 

[SHOsFAST]

Had this happen with my Focus...replace the coil pack if it still is not fixed.

 

[Racer X]

Had this happen with my Focus...replace the coil pack if it still is not fixed.

IIRC, the Focus uses Coil on Plug. The V6 SHO doesn't use COP, and as such, wouldn't require replacement in a situation like this.

 

[oldyak]

so much for cleaning the engine huh...
the good old days are long gone!!
It`s a sorry state when you cant hose it off without spending $$$$ and hours to get it right again.
I guess I`ll just wipe it off with a rag and wd-40.

 

[Endri_SHO]

hey man,
sorry to hear this about your sho,, listen replace the plugs and wires and you will be the same again.. 100% garaunteed... dont waste yor money on cps or anything else .. trust me i am telling you water and current electric power ac or dc dont go well together.. i know this cause i am an electrician.. .. lmk how you make out.. good luck