Cleaned Engine And Now It Runs Like C**p

[Ben 0]

I thought I'd give cleaning the engine ago the other day and I'm now beginning to wish I didn't. I used gunk to degrease the engine which was rinsed off with water, inevitably the engine didn't start afterwards. I tried drying out all the ignition components as best I could but it still wouldn't start, I left it for the night and tried again in the morning. Engine started and ran perfectly in the morning for about 5 mins when it cut out and wouldn't start again.

I decided at this point to get a new dizzy cap, rotor arm and plugs as I'd been meaning to do it for a while and thought it couldn't hurt. Once again the car ran well for 5-10 mins then cut out and would not start.

This happened again this afternoon after I'd been driving for about 15mins, just cut out whilst I was driving. Coasted to a halt and had to be towed home for the 2nd time in 2days, beginning to lose patience now.

 

Im completely stumped now and don't know where to look next, any ideas?

 

Cheers

[Baz 421]

Big mistake, bet you regret it now then!! All the electrics, start with the obvious's as you have, then ignition amp, coil, a few things you've not mentionned. Then the wiring, use a lubricant that displaces moisture too... or even get a heater/hot air gun and make sure the things dry everywhere.

[DaveW 6]

Have you checked the coil and the ignition amp?

[Ben 0]

I checked the connections on the coil and dried out/wd40'd, and I think I checked the ignition amp connections? Small black boxy thing near the fuel filter?

Edited February 28, 2008 by Ben

[Ben 0]

Big mistake, bet you regret it now then!! All the electrics, start with the obvious's as you have, then ignition amp, coil, a few things you've not mentionned. Then the wiring, use a lubricant that displaces moisture too... or even get a heater/hot air gun and make sure the things dry everywhere.

 

Regret it big time! is it worth taking the coil and amp off and leaving them somewhere warm for a while?

 

I preferred the engine when it was dirty, least it bloody worked!

[Baz 421]

I checked the connections on the coil and dried out/wd40'd, and I think I checked the ignition amp connections? Small black boxy thing near the fuel filter?

Yep that's the one!

 

Regret it big time! is it worth taking the coil and amp off and leaving them somewhere warm for a while?

 

I preferred the engine when it was dirty, least it bloody worked!

 

Might be worth a try.

[Ben 0]

Yep that's the one!

Might be worth a try.

 

I'll give it a go, hopefully it will help.

 

(p.s seems im not the only insomniac lol)

[djinuk 2]

if you have a small compressor i find that works best to blow out water from all the comps, i would jve undo the ignition and and give that a blow round, dizzy cap, , and remove ht leads one by one and blue them out with air.

[skeggyrik 3]

also check the spark plug wells for water

Edited February 28, 2008 by skeggyrik

[Ben 0]

if you have a small compressor i find that works best to blow out water from all the comps, i would jve undo the ignition and and give that a blow round, dizzy cap, , and remove ht leads one by one and blue them out with air.

 

dizzy cap is brand new, ht leads have been dried out.

 

also check the spark plug wells for water

 

I syringed all of the water out of the plug wells

[DrSarty 90 1 Cars]

The running fine and then cutting out bit sounds like a loose connection to me. Of course shorting out, like the plug wells being full of water won't help but that'd make it run badly or not at all, NOT run fine then cut out.

 

I'd check AFM, coil, ignition amp, flywheel trigger and HT connections are all spotty dog. I don't reckon you've done anything terminal.

 

Once it's dried and you've done the above, it's really best to swap components one at a time by inviting a little friend round with a 205 and find your gremlin(s).

 

Keep us posted please.

Edited February 28, 2008 by DrSarty

[Ben 0]

Im gonna remove the afm, coil and amp and bring them in the house for a while to see if they dry out at all, see if that helps.

 

Any clues on what the flywheel trigger looks like?

[lagonda 41]

Recently had trouble with condensation inside the distributor cap on mine. Point is, it would start fine from cold, but short out once the temperature deposited the moisture in the cap!

So I'd remove your entire distributor (make timing marks so you don't have to re-time it), turn it up & drain it, then put it somewhere fairly warm-hot for a while to completely dry it. Also it's possible one of the new components is faulty so once you've made sure they're CLEAN and DRY, try again. Spraying with WD40 etc can only be a temporary fix, it can even seal in moisture! Clean & dry is the way to go.

Finally, if you were pretty fierce with the water, there's a chance some may have got into the induction system, perhaps settling in the inlet manifold.

[flipperthebushkangaroo 2]

had a similar problem with mine after washing the engine, it was caused by the plug leads, while they looked dry water had gone up into them and was causing missfires somehow (this happened many years ago and AA said it was a blown head gasket!!!!!!)

 

hope this helps

Roddie

[Ben 0]

Right bit of an update,

 

Had the coil, dizzy, ign amp, afm and ht leads sat by radiator for the last few days, put them all back in the car and still nothing.

I removed a spark plug, held it against the inlet manifold and cranked the engine, nothing at all.

What should be my next thing to check? All the connections to the components I took off look good with no noticeable moisture.

 

Any ideas guys?

 

Cheers

[djinuk 2]

i would say that there is possibility your coil has given up the cost bud.

[C_W 3 1 Cars]

Yep, never try and clean these engines!!! I got tempted and did my Mi16 years ago and then spent about 6 hours trying to get it started and running properly!!

[trialster 0]

hope you get it sorted!

 

when i cleaned my engine in my 1.6 i just covered all the vital electric parts and went nuts with the pressurewahser and gunk

[jodycraw 0]

Take off as many parts as you can and leave them for a couple of days in your airing cupboard!

[Ben 0]

Big thanks to djinuk, the coil arrived today and the car burst into life perfectly.

Not sure whether the cleaning of the engine busted the coil or whether it was a strange coincidence but its sorted now so im happy, also made me change the rotor arm/ dizzy and spark plugs which I had been meaning to do for a while so all is good.

 

Cheers for everyones advice and djinuk for the coil

[DrSarty 90 1 Cars]

Well done Ben.