Water+ej22=bad news?

[LaureltheQueen]

Posting this for a friend, just a little extra information, I was having roughly the same problem after washing my engine(we work together), idling horribly(would die if i didnt keep my foot on the throttle), we blew off the engine and it idled okay, but when it went into gear it'd sputter and whatnot, Austin said it sounded like plug wires, so we figured maybe water messed with the insulation or something. I parked it in a corner, kept an eye on it, and let it idle for 20-30 minutes, working condensation out. After that, I shut it off for a few hours while I waited to get off work, on my way home, I had major hesitation at full throttle twice, towards the beginning of my commute, after that she's run like a charm.


"well, as some of you know, I have the 1980 GL wagon with the EJ22 from a 1992 legacy... and it has been running pretty good recently, with the snorkel and all...


but... I washed it yesterday at work... (the engine) with degreaser and water..

after that, it barely started up.. it sputtered like it was not firing on 1 or 2 of the cyls... after a little bit of arguing with it, and blasting the coil, TPS, and injectors off with air (to try to dry them) it started to work better... but it still would only idle good, and would rev up only if i gave it 0-10% throttle .. anything above that, it would sputter and try to die again..

so i drove home with the issue.. and it sorta got better, but it would only run correctly at around 0-20% throttle

the next morning, i went out and started it up, and it worked better than when i shut it off, this time it reved fine up untill about 80% throttle then flooring was the only time it sputtered...

so i let it idle for half an hour (heat up the motor)

and it ran fine after that....

drove to buckley just fine, but on the way home the rain got harder (more mist from the roadway too) and then after a few minutes of driving in the hard rain, it started its sputtering thing again!!! and if i gave it WOT, it would stall (nose dive and sputtering, it decellerated worse than if i just let the throttle close!)
so all the way home in the rain, i could only give it about 50% throttle max, or else it would sputter and slow way down (and jerk the car back and forth as if i was stepping on and letting off the gas repetedly)


any ideas on what this could be?? it seems to be water related, and it probably is not my MAF, because it did it the other day when i washed the engine (i did not spray anywhere the intake)

could it be the TPS???? or the coil? maybe the plug wires?

or any other sensors sensitive to water? * high milage motor.. do these age poorly? or maybe if it is a ground wire or something that is loosing contact when water gets in there?


this is really making driving difficult!!! any info would be much appreciated!!! thanks!!!"

[evolutionmovement]

Mine does the sputtering thing when I hose it off, but I try to avoid the electrics and I've always had the problem go away after a few miles on the highway. I think water collects in the plug wire pockets in the heads.

Steve

[scottzg]

you DID unplug the battery first... right?

[jake15]

this sounds almost exactly like what happens to me when i detail engines. its just water in the plug wires areas. in the heads and on the coil pack. if you blow out the spark plug holes and unplug the spark plug wires from the coil pack and dry those and then let it sit for a little while it should work fine if not i've heard wd40 displaces water, i just never tried it. an easy way to avoid the whole situation dont spray water directly on the coil pack or the heads where the spark plugs are, it took me a few times to figure that one out

[vrg3]

What Jake said.

When you get water in there, you can get normal behavior when it's really easy to spark, but as soon as it gets harder the spark arcs through the water to the head instead of going through the correct path.

[professor]

These problems usually go away if you pack the edges of the spark plug boots with dielectric grease, as well as the other end at the ignitor. Same goes for caps of any other electrical parts under the hood.

[vrg3]

What professor said.

[BAC5.2]

My car throws the Knock Sensor code whenever it rains and goes to SPED Timing mode.

[evolutionmovement]

Marginal wires, Phil? Could be causing a missfire and setting off the knock sensor?

Steve

[BAC5.2]

I dunno, drives fine off-boost. On boost it's actually slower than driving off-boost because of the remedial timing.

Could be plug wires, they are just some random joints. That, and I didn't have any dilectric grease when I changed my plugs.

[Legacy777]

I went through and di-electric greased all the sensors when I had my intake manifold off a year or so ago. Good preventative maintenance

[LaureltheQueen]

all of the electronics on austin's wagon are exposed, should the di-electric grease fix his water problem?

[skid542]

When it really starts to rain and the my favorite back road gets covered I like to go out and do water splashes, as in windshield wipers on high to try and see coming out and wash off my roof. Some of these puddles are just perfect and it's just too much fun. But I have noticed that often times after an outing splashing around it'll seem sluggish sputter some. I think there is definately a correlation but I always just thought it was water that had gotten sucked up into the intake perhaps.

Lee

[evolutionmovement]

Likely wiring as I have no spluttering problems and enjoy water splashes also. I have an open intake in the bumper, so if it were intake related, I'd have a worse issue than you. My Magnecors fit real tight in the heads and the coil ends are tightened with zip ties and hose clamps.

Steve