I just sprayed under the hood of my car with the hose and now the check engine

[fr33spirit85]

light is flashing. Any ideas? My car hasn't been washed in about 3 years and there was so much crap under the hood left over from spiders and trees and dead grass and such. I decided to spray it with the hose to get what I could out of there. Now when I start my car it sputters and dies. And the check engine light flashes. What happened?

 

[nazeem]

various things may have happened:

you either clogged up the engine with water

got water into the electricals

or

if its a pressure washer you must have melted somthing,

either way, if i was you i would:

wipe the whole car down, engine n all

put the car in a place where the sun really hits,

give the car a few days so all the water can dry out,

if theres still a problem,

get it to a garage to get it checked out.

 

[trible_ice]

water and electronics do not go very good together. you probably have gotten some water down on a sensor. You will probably have to take it to a shop and let them check it out to find out where to go from there.

 

[David]

Depending on how old your car is and what type it is there are several possibilities.

If it is a newer model then most of the electrical components should be ok if they get wet. But if the engine was hot then there are two big possibilities:

1. You used cold water on a hot engine and either cracked the head or engine block.

2. Water got into a coil or coil pack and cracked the casing.

If you let it dry for a while and it starts and runs fine then it is most likely the latter. If it doesn't improve with drying time then check the compression on all the cylinders to see if one has too little which will indicate about where the engine is cracked (usually the head)

I do auto detailing and do engine cleaning as part of the service. Always use hot water when cleaning engines to help reduce the chances of cracking hot engines.