Cleaned engine, now it idles badly
Jun 10, 2006 | 07:53 PM
#1
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From: Southlake/Lubbock, Texas
Cleaned engine, now it idles badly
I detailed my car today and degreased/cleaned the engine. I protected the battery terminals with tin foil before I started but I still managed to foul something up. I used degreaser all over, rinsed, and then used wd-40 on the engine bay.
After I finished cleaning the rest of the car, I went back to the Kwik Kar to get them to change my oil filter that they "forgot" to do earlier that day with my oil change. Everything was fine with the 4runner.
I get home and shower and get dressed to meet someone for dinner. As I am pulling into my parking spot I smell something burning through the A/C. I cut the motor and restart it to smell again. Nothing. I get out and decide that I smelled the cooking in the air around the restaurant.
Upon leaving the restaurant, my engine immediately starts running poorly. The motor is shaking enough that the shifter is vibrating noticibly and I can hear/feel it struggling. About half way home, everything smooths out and I figure the problem to be water or oil that somehow got into the airbox or something and had to be burned off. I get home, pop the hood, restart and jiggle the butterfly valve.. everything is peachy.
I have someone come over who is far more mechanically inclined than me and he looks it over about 2 hours later. We start it up and it misses twice upon starting and then levels out. It runs fine for about 5 minutes and then misses badly for as long as we left it on. The rpm's with the A/C off were steady at 700. It was at 900 with the A/C on.
I have an idea of what it is, but I wanted to ask all of you. I had forgotten that I smelled something burning when I pulled up to the restaurant until just a minute ago.
After I finished cleaning the rest of the car, I went back to the Kwik Kar to get them to change my oil filter that they "forgot" to do earlier that day with my oil change. Everything was fine with the 4runner.
I get home and shower and get dressed to meet someone for dinner. As I am pulling into my parking spot I smell something burning through the A/C. I cut the motor and restart it to smell again. Nothing. I get out and decide that I smelled the cooking in the air around the restaurant.
Upon leaving the restaurant, my engine immediately starts running poorly. The motor is shaking enough that the shifter is vibrating noticibly and I can hear/feel it struggling. About half way home, everything smooths out and I figure the problem to be water or oil that somehow got into the airbox or something and had to be burned off. I get home, pop the hood, restart and jiggle the butterfly valve.. everything is peachy.
I have someone come over who is far more mechanically inclined than me and he looks it over about 2 hours later. We start it up and it misses twice upon starting and then levels out. It runs fine for about 5 minutes and then misses badly for as long as we left it on. The rpm's with the A/C off were steady at 700. It was at 900 with the A/C on.
I have an idea of what it is, but I wanted to ask all of you. I had forgotten that I smelled something burning when I pulled up to the restaurant until just a minute ago.
Jun 10, 2006 | 08:29 PM
#6
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From: Southlake/Lubbock, Texas
I covered the fuse box also. I was pretty gentle with the water.. you would think that it gets more water in the engine bay when it rains on the highway.
I really dont think that there is water in the engine via the airbox. There was a small amount at the bottom of the box that I sopped up prior to starting it again. Im thinking its electrical.
I really dont think that there is water in the engine via the airbox. There was a small amount at the bottom of the box that I sopped up prior to starting it again. Im thinking its electrical.
Jun 10, 2006 | 08:33 PM
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From: Ft. Collins, Co
A common thing that I have seen is when you have plug wires that are arcing or maybe just about to start arcing, water will make it worse, or start it acting up. How old are your plugs and wires(tune up)? I would pull every wire off the plug and blow it out with air. If you don't have air at least look really carefully to see if any water is down there. Probably not after driving it to dinner.
If the wires are old and they were just about to start arcing then the water could have been the straw that broke the camel back, and now they arc all the time.
If the wires are old and they were just about to start arcing then the water could have been the straw that broke the camel back, and now they arc all the time.
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Jun 10, 2006 | 08:39 PM
#8
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From: Southlake/Lubbock, Texas
Well, so far, my plan of attack was to take it to an oreillys or something and have them pull any codes that might come up. I dont have a CEL, but it cant hurt.
Assuming nothing comes up on a scan, would you start with replacing the plugs? Cost is a factor. What about the burning smell? Im fearing that I may have burned out a coil pack with an electrical short.
Assuming nothing comes up on a scan, would you start with replacing the plugs? Cost is a factor. What about the burning smell? Im fearing that I may have burned out a coil pack with an electrical short.
Jun 10, 2006 | 08:48 PM
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I cleaned the engine on a '96 honda civic recently and I was really careful to not get anything electrical wet. It was doing the same thing as your 4runner, so I let it dry and pulled the spark plugs out. they looked a little orange, so I cleaned them and it runs perfect now. All I can think is maybe a sensor got wet and changed the fuel mixture or something. Maybe replace the plugs then as getitdone says look into the plug wires.
