Hey all,

I had the day off yesterday and decided to clean my engine bay a bit as I had not had the time in the past six months. I covered the intake, MAF sensor, and oil reservoir with aluminum foil and used some simple green and a wire brush to get the grime off the engine. After rinsing everything off lightly with the hose and wiating about an hour for things to dry, I removed the aluminum foil and started her up. I immediately noticed a rough start and idle (it sounded like the car was about to stall) and noticed the flashing check engine light on the dash. I turned the car off and haven't touched it since. So the blinking LED means I'm misfiring. Do you think i could have damaged one of the coilpacks by getting it wet?

 

clean the electrical harness with alcohol. they really should be fine though.

 

Yeah so I tried to start the car this morning, hoping it would dry a bit overnight and its not even turning over... Water lock? I can't drive it anywhere to get codes so any suggestions would be great. I might try replacing the spark plugs. Idk though.

 

check your ICM that's on top of the airbox. you may have damaged that. another thing is the crank sensor. is there anyway you can get to like autozone to rent theirs? you get all your money back after you return it.

 

yea I should be able too get there sometime today. My brother who has a 1.8t jetta says that he feels like its water lock but neither of us can understand how the engine could have got water locked with the intake cone well coverd. any other ideas would be great. thanks guys.

 

Why would you spray down your engine bay first off? Clean it..With your hands and simple green.

 

Yeah, I did clean it with simple green but you can't leave it on there or it will corrode your engine...

 

update: removed coil packs and spark plugs.
Noticed a little moisture below two of the coils. Hoping its just a wet engine or something. I'll let you know how it goes at the end of the day when I put things back in and try and turn it over. The ICM plug ins were a little damp as well so I'm letting those dry. Not very familiar with the crank sensor. What does it do? Thanks for all the help Hiwords.

 

crank sensor senses the angle of your crank shaft. it deals with the timing and stuff and if it's damaged your car won't turn over correctly if at all

 

I put the plugs and coil packs back in after drying and the car starts as normal. I'm assuming the spark plugs must have been a little damp. Thanks everyone for the help.