Washed engine bay at car wash, won’t idle

[MDK]

Blown 427, VF R8 2015 pls help
I’ve REGRETFULLY cleaned my engine bay with low pressure cleaner at car wash today, tyre/engine button for 2 mins, then rinse for 2 minutes. Drove out, into servo put fuel in, went to start...........
1/ Reduced power warning
2/ engine warning lights
3/ very very rough idle about to stall
I’ve taking it somewhere to check out, tried drying components, 4hrs later held idle okay, took out back, 2nd gear half pedal breaks traction easy as normal, pull into 3rd half throttle breaks traction then instantaneously goes straight back int to all this dumb ass 1, 2 & 3 as mentioned above. This shops holding it til Monday to maby hope it will start then, thoughts please everyone
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[stooge]

You got water into some of the electric plugs.
You will just have to wait until it dries out and hope nothing begins to corrode.
You can use compressed air and unplug things and blow them out to dry them.

I never wash the engine on modern vehicles because of the electrics but if you are going to do it make sure you never use a pressure sprayer even on low because it forces water into the plugs.

 

[MDK]

They cleaned out most things with air yesterday, had it idling for an hour then took it for quick run. Good in 2nd, was good in top gear for a split second........then engine forced straight to limp mode again. Putted 1km back to a guys shop to sit all day Sunday and try again when reopens Monday, Do you think it will restart all good tomorrow??? And do you think it’s just moisture and no engine damage??? Panicking here never had experienced this, big money on engine/driveline 60k

 

[greenacc]

Could be water in a coil or something. One idea would be to take it on a long drive without going too far from home, say for an hour or so to get it warmed up and hopefully dry out completely.
If you are able, you could disconnect everything and check all the plugs and coils for drops of water and dry out.
Stomping on the pedal doesn't solve everything

 

[stooge]

And do you think it’s just moisture and no engine damage???

engines are quite robust so I doubt you have done any damage to the engine but water and electrics do not mix and in modern vehicles there are all sorts of sensors on the engine that will cause incorrect readings to the ecu if they are shorting out because of water in the connectors and that will cause the engine to run like crap and the ecu to enable limp mode.
like greenacc said you could take it for a 30min/1hour drive to heat the engine bay up to dry stuff out.

 

[MDK]

Thanks Stooge & Greenacc
Hopefully tomorrow it will start again, like Saturday arvo, before sending it back to crawl mode. Guess all I can do if it starts tomorrow is crawl it around for an hour, park up, and so forth as you’ve said. BTW I WILL NEVER DO THIS WATER THING AGAIN, I’ve learnt my lesson now!

 

[lmoengnr]

After you washed it, how much fuel did you put in the tank?

 

[abuch47]

Yes and the water will dry and leave minerals in the parts which will corrode over time. So generally good to dry the water and clean all the connections it touched with acetone or such.

 

[Lex]

Having it idle for an hour, l would think that would have dried things out?

When refueling, did you put the correct fuel in? I'm guessing you did?

 

[MDK]

CORRECTION TO ALL AFTER BAD DAY YDAY, Toped up tank with E 85, was already 3/4 full then 2mins drive to car wash, when tried to restart, all reduced power lights, actuator codes, eta, putted to mechanic shop 3doors down, they tried to dry all, continued misfire in 1, swapped plugs and coils no change, they thought moisture in lines somewhere, 4hrs later it came good for abit till hard pump in top gear, then straight back to limp mode. Hoping will come good tomorrow......36hrs drying time, GOD KNOWS