benzin1

This may seem a little stupid of me, but yesterday after I work I decided to give my engine a wash... Car is a 2005 civic si 2 door coupe. I used grim remover and then a pressure washer, but I made sure to keep the hose as far away so it wouldn't be spraying with excessive pressure around house, connectors and sensors. Once done I proceeded to drying with a pneumatic air vac under high pressure also. After I cleaned my the exterior and dried parts of the car with the same air vac, as well as some of the interior. I have done the exterior and interior of the car before with the air vac and never had any issues, but yesterday was the first time i washed the engine. Needless to say, my airbag light is now on, but it's not always on, as it will go off at random times and come back on, but there isn't a specific pattern of when it goes on and off. The abs and parking brake light on the other hand seem to only go on once I start moving, and then anytime I go below 30kph-20kph the lights will go off and stay off until I start moving. I also had my radio turn off 10-20 seconds later after I started my car, and then it wouldn't turn back on, or it would turn back on and then shut off again. The last time I drove my car the radio didn't go off at all though. So far i've checked almost all the sensors in the engine bay and there wasn't any water in any of the connectors, so where do I start looking from here?

PS: Yes it probably wasn't the greatest idea to power wash and air dry a 12 year old civic, but please try to refrain from telling me you shouldn't have... and you are... etc

toyomatt84

iTrader: (1)

Have you checked the fuse box?

benzin1

I did, no blown fuses and I checked the connectors underneath the fuse box and no water.

Another interesting thing I noticed is my radio turns off when I start driving, but, when I turn my fan on for heat or ac, and the actual rad fan kicks in, the radio turns on...

benzin1

So something interesting happened today. I. Decided to drive a little bit with the abs fuses unplugged. After replugging them, the abs light was still on, but when signalling, the abs light would flash on and off. The abs would flash off when the signal would flash on and vice versa, and at one point the abs light just went out and didn't come back on. After I left school tonight, the abs light reappeared, but the same story with the signalling was happening. Also, when I put my wipers on the highest setting, the lights would turn off and stay off, same thing if I put my high beam on, the abs light would turn off...

Also, my radio doesn't turn off anymore after I start driving, the last 100km the radio has stayed on

benzin1

well, dtc came back as abs low voltage. I air dried the abs connector some more at work, i then blow dried the connector and pins with low heat and the only result I got was the abs and parking brake light flashing, only to become solid after 20 seconds of driving and stay solid (on). Tech says if drying doesn't work I need a new module, but if I replace the module, would that also make the radio stay on and the srs light turn off? Clearly the abs and radio have to be on the same circuit if the radio turns back on and abs light goes off when I turn the ac on, but i don't know about the srs light

benzin1

I found some info on a different forum about someone who has a similar issue and mentioned it was an alternator/over voltage issues. I monitored my voltage with my Bluetooth obd and it's around 16.8 when driving, and when coming to stop its around the normal value of 14. When I turn on the ac, wipers, hazards, high beams, etc I get the abs light to turn off and the airbag light aswell sometimes, which makes complete sense since more load will drop the voltage. So I guess I need a new alternator?

benzin1

Indeed it was the alternator. Replaced it today and everything is back to normal. I probably should have covered the alternator when washing the engine bay, although this is the first time for me after washing an engine where the alternator was affected afterwards... probably since it's the original one with 210,000 km on it

prodjay10

I wash my engine bay all the time with no problems. I don't use pressure washer just degrease it and then hose it down.

Its likely it it was just a coincidence.

benzin1

Could be, but I don't really have a way of telling. Regardless all is good now, thankfully I found out before potentially frying something