Power washed engine and now splutter splutter........ HELP me please

[dyna]

Spec

Espace 2.0 16v RT-X petrol
Year 1999

Help help help

Was cleaning my car last wekend with a power washer and cleaned the oil off under the hood. I don't know whether this is co-incidental but im in real trouble....

Symptons

The car starts, but splutters
When on a run It hardly has any power and judders like crazy.
I have had the bonet open to dry it out, left it running for a while but I am now at a loss of what to do.



My wife is going mad at me and I need a point in the right direction

I have googled the sympton and it's like a minefield - does anyone have any ideas??

[Anders Dinsen]

Hi and welcome to the forum. I've tried that, and I bet it's water in the igntion! You should remove the ignition coils. You probably have water down with the plugs. Take care not to get water in the cylinder if you remove the plugs, but if you do, crank the engine a few times without plugs in to get it out.

If that's not it, then you probably need to disassemble connectors in the engine room one by one to see which one has water inside.

Good luck with fixing your car and making your wife happy again!

/Anders

[renaultbiler]

WATER = KILL on modern cars
Brake cleaner and tooth-brush is the safest option

Probably water on/in/under coils like Anders is suggesting

[roy4matra]

Spec

Espace 2.0 16v RT-X petrol
Year 1999

Help help help

Was cleaning my car last wekend with a power washer and cleaned the oil off under the hood. I don't know whether this is co-incidental but im in real trouble....

This is the very reason you are not supposed to power wash or steam clean any modern engine.  The water gets in to all the electronics and causes all sorts of problems.

You need to thoroughly dry everything out and then it should return to normal.  You will have to dry every electrical connector and maybe even open the casing of any computer and carefully dry it out inside.  DO NOT touch anything inside with your fingers.  Just dab it dry with a tissue.

Roy

[dyna]

thanks you for your replies to date.

Update - last night I removed the ignition coils and cleaned them. One looked a little damp at the bottom. I used an old air bed pump (powerful one) to dry any electrical connections and I cleaned the coils with wd40.

Put everything back together and took it for a drive. For the forst minute it was a little juddery, then was as good as new.

Thank you for your help - hopefully the problem will not reoccur.

/note to  self - no more powerwashing the engine 

[Anders Dinsen]

/note to  self - no more powerwashing the engine 

Haha, and now you have shared the experience to others, thanks!

It does sound like you might want to exchange the ignition coils. Since they have been immersed in water, chances are that they are now corroding. They probably were already, but now it's worsening. The fact that it did run a bit rough initially indicates that, I think. The problem with modern coils is that once the laqueer peels off the iron core of the coil, water is allowed to seep in between the transformer plates. This water will effectively short circuit the coil inductively. As the coil becomes older and rust starts appearing on the plates, the problem worsens to the point where the coil fails even when it's dry.

Chances are that you will experience the problem when the weather has been wet for a few days, then dries up and becomes sunny. This will cause any moisture to condensate in the coil - causing running problems.

/Anders