Attempted to wash my engine today. Im scared it may have been a bit too warm when i washed it. After washing it i found it really hard to excel. The engine shuddered. This stopped happening after awhile and now it runs beautifully. However when i stop at lights it rough idles. The rpm guage dips down to 500rpm in a pulsating fashion and you can hear the footwell area vibrate. It is esspecially bad when the A/C is on. Any idea what could be going on here? I have a Verada 94 EI

Give your leads, coil and dizzie a good spray of dewatering fluid (wd40, crc, etc).

If that doesnt get rid of it, take off the dizzie cap (you dont have to take off the leads, just undo it and tip it upside down) give it a wipe out and spray in the cap and the dizzie.

Sounds like you just got a little water in the electrics, no biggie.:D

^^ Good to hear.

Will check it out..

As washing an engine that is too warm can lead to a cracked block, was just wondering what are the immediate symptoms of this and is it a regular occurance?

washing down your engine immediately after turning it off isnt too good an idea but if you can hold your hand on it for a couple of seconds its ussually a good sign that its cooled down enough.

I have steam cleaned hot engines before without any dramas but thats a bit different to putting a hose on it.

You should be ok though, if it started and ran chances are its ok and just has a little moisture in the wrong places....:)

check ur spark plugs... could have mad some water go down there and could be causing this... this happaned to my missus car a few months back...

Mine does that after washing it as well thats why i dont do it much. Try not to use a normal hose sprayer get a jet nozzle they dont use as much water but have ample power to clean after degreasing. It should be running fine again very soon. If not check all those things listed above.

I used to have that problem, mine was the throttle position sensor (TPS).. once it dried out it was fine, but the car would never go over 1700rpm with the TPS had water in it, ran beautifully under that rpm but died when ya hit it.

It's possible you got water up your air intake. The water has been sucked in to the throttle body which explains why it was rough for a while until that cleared. The bugger is you may have killed your ISC motor in the process. The ISC regulates the idle of your engine. If you did get water in your throttle body, then this could have serious long term affect on the tps and injectors as well. It may be worth getting these both cleaned out now to prevent any corrosive damage the dried up water could do. I found a thread here for you for info on how to test your ISC. Good luck!

http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39507&highlight=idle+control

Did it sort it self out or did you have to pull things apart to fix the problem??

Nah didnt sort it out. I'm quite a novice when it comes to pulling apart engines so getting a mech to do it tommorow. Will mention what has been discussed here.

Mech said it was Idle stepping motor and some random connections to it that is causing this problem. Need to get the whole thing replaced :confused:

Well i guess not water related then.
when i washed out my air filter i thought i let it dry long enough but obviously not when i flooered it it stalled the first few times (sucked water into motor) lol but a lil water injection won't hurt. motor wasn't even warmed up!

Mech said it was Idle stepping motor and some random connections to it that is causing this problem. Need to get the whole thing replaced :confused:

So the moral of the story is, water on electricals is bad.. mmkay?

Why didn't you try what I suggested in my previous post about testing the ISC yourself? You don't have to be a mechanic to do this. It's a pretty simple job. How much he quote you to replace the ISC? (by the way, isc = Idle stepping control motor)

He replaced the ISC and ignition leads and applied throttle cleaner. Cost $259 all up.

He is now saying the whole ECU needs to be replaced as the ISC was sending bad signals too it. There is still a slight rough idle and he says it's not that much of a big deal. For interests sake, how much are ECUs? I hear its better to get an after-market one?

well the ISC actually receives inputs from the ECU, ECU tells it what to do. I Seriously doubt it could have damaged your ECU, my car has been running with a stuffed ISC for 3 years.
You should be able to pick-up an ECU from a wreckers fairly cheap.

^^ Yes thats what he said. Apparntly the ISC (because of water damage) sent a electric charge back to the ECU and sorted out some part of it.

Worth trying to re-set the ECU by disconnecting the battery for half an hour.

I don't believe its cooked.

Rob

Hey endlesseulogy, I reckon you should get another mechanic to check it out as well. Just in case this one is ripping you off...?!

Cheers.

Regards,
Jeff

Worth trying to re-set the ECU by disconnecting the battery for half an hour.

I don't believe its cooked.

Rob


Do I disconnect both terminals or just one?

Definitely take it to another mech if the ecu reset doesn't work. Sounds a bit suss.

Do I disconnect both terminals or just one?

One is enough.

Rob

Worth trying to re-set the ECU by disconnecting the battery for half an hour.

I don't believe its cooked.

Rob

I was thinking this a bit strange too. Dosnt the ECU control many functions, not just idle? If the ECU were ****ed, wouldnt it mess up all the other things the ECU controls? It's strange that it can be so localised. I must admit though that the new Idle motor has made idling a bit better, esspecially when the A/C is on. Before when i would stick the A/C on the steering wheel would shake really badly (this is before the water damage) But still, this annoying engine fluttering is starting to give me the ****s. The mechanic says it wont hurt the engine or any other componant in any way but it just sounds so harsh.

There is nothing wrong with you ECU. Period.

I had this sort of problem a while ago, when I got some water in the engine bay. Unscrew the screw on the throttle body slightly, reset ECU and see how you go. I just adjusted the screw, no problems after that.

Would re-setting the base idle involve disconnecting the battery?

This mechanic of yours sounds like an idiot. He has no idea what the problem is, so is just making up wishy washy diagnosis ie - recieving bad signals. I mean, what the frig is that supposed to mean? Is this mechanic of yours considering testing these components before he replaces them? It doesn't sound like it. He's probably reselling your old bits on e-bay after you've left. You could keep wasting your money changing components until the problem is fixed or take it to someone else for a proper diagnosis.
Try taking it to a Mitsubishi dealer and get them to connect it up to the MUT for a diagnosis on the ECU.

Have washed my engines many a time even with semi high pressure. Only prob i have ever come accross is getting water in the transmission electrics plug on top of tranny. The car wouldnt engage drive and would ram so hard into reverse. Just unpluged it and blew the water out and all sweet.

Did your motor give off steam when you washed it? Steam can usually be more of a pain than water because it is rising up into places that dont get wet when you are squirting down.

Sure you wouldnt have done any permenant damage.