HELP! Issues Starting / Running

[Cúl-Báire]

HI All,

I am really hoping someone can help me out; I am having some serious issues with starting and running my car. Let me explain a little further!

A few weeks ago I took the 5ltr SS Commodore down to the car wash, washed out the engine bay using low pressure water. The car started no worries, and drove off home without a problem...

Since then however the car has developed issues starting almost like it is miss firing on startup. Once started the car idles fine, and even drives fine for a while then it begins miss firing, and even stalls. I have found this tends to happen only when the car is warm, and / or when you "stab" at the accelerator it stalls around 1500 to 2000rpm (yet if you accelerate gradually you can take it to 4000rpm + no worries). Now on startup the car has started making “steel on steel” scraping noise / rattle for 30 seconds, and then goes away.

WTF is wrong with my car, and how do I fix it?

I am tipping one of the leads is worn, and may short on the block when the engine is starting and warm causing the miss fire, so changing the leads is on the cards; but what is the scrapping noise on startup?

Any ideas how to fix my issue?

Edit: Forgot the "p" word... Please Help! :-)

[UFO]

cautionary tale for those thinking of using pressure washers in the engine bay!

even on 'low pressure', its a definite nono. I wouldnt even put the garden hose in there, and thats about as low pressure as you get (least where I live) . Anyway whats done is done. You obviously got water in something. How long has the problem existed? Ie, have you been able to take the car for a gentle long drive in an attempt to dry out the area with heat?

you may have got water into the air filter. this would explain why you could start, but upon an increase in air demand those water particles get in to the combustion mix and that would cause problems as you describe.

but now, if you're getting a 'metal or metal scraping noise' on start up but then goes away, sounds like it's a lubrication issue. if it was a cable problem, it wouldnt go away.

first things first. id take out all spark plugs to make sure not wet and also check air filter and inlet for wet/moist/due droplets and wipe dry with clean cloth. if water has got into engine through air inlet, i'd be wanting to drain completely and change oil and filter as well as this could cause you serious issues. once you got those areas checked/changed, i'd take car for long gentle drive. get the heat up in the engine bay, and then park it with open bonnet with direct hot afternoon sun shining straight in (try to do all this on hot windy day, you want as much heat and wind as possible).

depending on where you squirted the water, you may need to relubricate certain areas if you've blasted away the lube. but main thing is engine internals and water contamination. if you can eliminate that major problem, you're definitely saving yourself a potential headache.

[Cúl-Báire]

cautionary tale for those thinking of using pressure washers in the engine bay!

even on 'low pressure', its a definite nono. I wouldnt even put the garden hose in there, and thats about as low pressure as you get (least where I live) . Anyway whats done is done. You obviously got water in something. How long has the problem existed? Ie, have you been able to take the car for a gentle long drive in an attempt to dry out the area with heat?

you may have got water into the air filter. this would explain why you could start, but upon an increase in air demand those water particles get in to the combustion mix and that would cause problems as you describe.

but now, if you're getting a 'metal or metal scraping noise' on start up but then goes away, sounds like it's a lubrication issue. if it was a cable problem, it wouldnt go away.

first things first. id take out all spark plugs to make sure not wet and also check air filter and inlet for wet/moist/due droplets and wipe dry with clean cloth. if water has got into engine through air inlet, i'd be wanting to drain completely and change oil and filter as well as this could cause you serious issues. once you got those areas checked/changed, i'd take car for long gentle drive. get the heat up in the engine bay, and then park it with open bonnet with direct hot afternoon sun shining straight in (try to do all this on hot windy day, you want as much heat and wind as possible).

depending on where you squirted the water, you may need to relubricate certain areas if you've blasted away the lube. but main thing is engine internals and water contamination. if you can eliminate that major problem, you're definitely saving yourself a potential headache.

Never thought of water in their airbox / intake to be honest. I will have to check that out!

The problem has been about for about 2 weeks now, as for having a chance to dry out the engine has sat at idle with an industrial fan on it for near an hour just after the problem started occuring thinking it would give leads / plugs a good drying out. The car has also been on a few longish drives, where it begins to shudder and stall after a warming up.

The metal on metal sounds shouldn't be too hard to find, I will just have to take a look at it during daylight hours.

[BatGirl1101]

You've got water in your spark plugs. Don't high pressure your engine bay! Actually, don't hose your engine bay at all, a spray of degreaser and a rag should do just fine.

You can take out the plugs and get a compressor in there to dry it out, but I'd probably recommend replacing your plugs. As for the metal on metal scraping noise, I'd suggest checking out all your piping.

The scraping noise could be a worn gasket or a loose bolt. Check it out. Good luck!

[Cúl-Báire]

Ok, A little bit of an update - I have since changed out the plugs and leads on the car which made a massive improvement for a while, the car started first go and had no issues when under load. However the other day I went for a legnthy drive, put my foot down coming over a crest and "bang" the car backfired and stalled again.

I eventually got the car started with a lot of issues and it now stuggles to hold an idle it's missfiring so badly. All the leads are tight, plugs are in ok; Is it possible the ignition timing on the dizzy cap is slightly out?.. Would this cause the issues I am having?

[Cúl-Báire]

Any one, any further ideas or help would be greatly appreciated!.. This is causing me a lot of heartache at the moment, especially at Christmas time :-(