Yep, should I or shouldn't I blame him for this?.....The day after, I was driving it in the morning and the idle wouldn't drop below 1200 rpm. After about five miles of in town driving, the idle returned to normal. Later that evening I started it up and only let it run for about 30 seconds before I took off. I got about 3/4 of a mile and when taking off from a stop sign the car all but died in the road. I let off the gas and it stayed running, so I gave it some throttle and it puked again. I limped it to the nearest parking lot and shut it off. Started it back up, and it idled around 600, revved it a few times and all seemed well. I drove across the parking lot and went to pull onto the street and it puked again. So this time I limped it back home. The next day I started it in the morning and the idle wouldn't drop, it just stayed around 1200. So I drove it about 2 miles to the store. When I parked, it was still idling at about 1200 rpm. Went in the store came out (about 10 minutes) started it up, still high idle but running fine, took it sideways around a couple of corners on the way home. No problems but the high idle. Shut it off at home, started it back u pabout ten minutes later and the idle finally dropped to 600. However when i revved it, it wouldn't. Holding the throttle to the floor only produced about 2000 rpm, if that. So where am I at? Somebody help I'm heartbroken. P.S. Before the washing I didn't have any of these problems.

 

It likes being dirty; misses the dirt.

Throw a couple shovelfuls of mud in there on it.

Seriously, there's probably some water in the distributor cap. Pop it off, flip it over, wait a little while for it to dry. Then thank him for buying you your car, paying your insurance, and then cleaning it up for you; instead of getting an attitude about it.

 

Well put. Thank you for putting me in my place. You're right, my dad is a real good guy. And he knows alot more than me! Even though he didn't buy me my car, he has been very generous with his wisdom and time. And I feel ashamed to have come off with an attitude about the situation. So, I will take of the distributor cap. And let it air out. And then I'll let y'all know what happened. Thanks again!

 

OK

Sorry also for being a bit harsh; but that's just my good side. I can be alot worse.

You may also find that water got into a couple of other electrical things, especially up on top where they're easy to hit with the blast.

Personally I find the car wash to be the BEST of all possible places for cleaning up my engine. I do my own car a couple of times a year, and especially if I'm about to work on it. I hate working on some bag of scuzz. (I hate WORK bad enough as it is, let alone get filthy on top of it.) I've kind of learned where not to shoot the water: the dist cap, the obvious critical sensor connectors like the O2 sensor and the TPS and the CTS, stuff like that. Which is probably what happened; some water got forced into some one of them.

 

So, I took off the distributor cap and let it air out for ten minutes or so. Took it out for a drive, it wouldn't idle down, 1200 all the time. But it ran fine didn't bog down, smoked the tires a little. Got home shut it off. started it back up fifteen minutes later. Idled at 1200,no throttle response. Wouldn't rev beyond 2000 even with foot to the floor. Shut it off, unplugged the Mass Air Flow sensor, started it back up, idled at 600, revved fine, nasty black gas smoke from exhaust. Shut it off, plugged MAF back in, started it, 1200 rpm idle, full throttle response. It must be MAF, am I wrong? Oh, and I unplugged and plugged back in every connection I could find.

 

Water in the connector?

Disconnect it and wait a bit for it to dry?

 

Does the computer throw a code?
Sounds like a TPS to me....

 

I'm sure it's throwing a code but I don't know. The check engine bulb doesn't work. The motor is a transplant out of an 88 trans am so I don't even know if the obd works right. Wildcard here, would a bad tank of gas have these results? I just filled up about 50 miles before the issues began.

 

unplug all the connectors and let them dry out for a few hours or overnight and see what happens...


My buddy pressurewashed the motor in his 03 sportrac (4L V6) last summer and it had a miss at ilde for almost 3 months before it finally cleared up! We pulled EVERYTHING apart on that truck trying to figure out what happened and in the end it just cleared itself up...

 

Your worst case scenario is going to be having to replace all the electronic sensors. TPS, MAF, etc.


And that's expensive, dont get me wrong, but it's not catastrophic.

A guy not too long ago pressure washed his motor, and basically made it act nuts like yours is now. He finally took it to a dealer and had to pay like $1200 to replace 3 sensors.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tech...ressure+washed


Just replace them yourself and save yourself a LOT of money. But definitely read that thread, exact same thing happened.


Wait... MAF sensors are pretty expensive. Save that one for last if you can.

 

Try this, go outside at night (when its really dark) turn off all the lights around your car. Pop the hood and turn your car on. Look around the distributor cap and the ignition coil. Make sure there isn't any "loose lightning". I had a similar problem and had to replace everything but the distributor shaft itself (ignition coil, distributor cap and rotor, spark plug wires and spark plugs)...

 

Well, I started the car up this morning. Let it warm up, didn't expect the idle to drop to low...but it did! So I took it for a drive. Rural, then highway, then interstate, then back to rural. It ran great, pulled good at wot, pulled good at part throttle. But still, when I got home and parked, 1200 rpm idle. So I thought maybe I'd try to adjust the TPS. I did what the book said, connected the three jumper wires, turned on the key(not the motor) and checked for voltage between A and B....Nothing, nada, zero, zip. Checked between B and C. I got 4. I followed the steps for adjustment. But I could not get the reading to change from 4. Full forward travel on the pivot to full backward travel produced no change in voltage. Have I found my problem?

 

probably

 

I got the TPS ordered. Should be here in the morning. $36.99 from N.A.P.A.. I'll let you guys know if it worked. Thanks for all the input.

 

I replaced the starter today and all systems are go!

For now...

 

Sorry, for not posting yesterday. Was helping my dad all day out at his place. But, we did replace the throttle position sensor on my car. And it worked like a charm. You all have been so helpful. Thanks a million.