Day 1

So I decided to clean my engine. I used simple green, spraying it pretty much all over the engine and trying not to get the electrical(ie alternator, distributor, battery, starter, fuse box). Then I come in with my garden hose, hosing everything off again trying not to hit the electrical stuff because I didn't cover them. And finally I finish it off with MOTHER'S detailer and didn't drive it for the day.

Day 2

I tried starting the car and I get this "click" and a "whir" "whir" like its trying to start and then nothing. So I am like damn, maybe I got something wet and shorted something. So I grab my jumper and try and start the car and no sound not even a click. Im thinking my battery is dead(which is OEM honda and only 3 months oil). I bring it to honda for warranty.

Day 3

Honda tells me it was dead but they were able to charge it so I pop it in my car tried to start it and this time I get a "click" again but no "whir". I check it out and I get no power to the car(ie dome light, clock not working). So I can say that a blown fuse is out of the question because I get a click at least in the beggining. I disconnect the battery and wait another day.

Day 4

Connected the battery and checked for power. To my surprise my headlights are working and my clock and my dome light. So I tried starting the car and there goes that "click" again and no "whir" and no power again.

HELP!!!

Before



After

 

Well first of all....next time COVER your electrical parts with a bag or something before you go hosing your engine down

Check your grounds.....the starter in particular. When my ground wire for my starter came disconnected, it would do the same thing. It would click but not turn over, but the clock etc... worked. Check your grounds, fuses, etc...first. Hopefully you didnt get your distributor wet.

 

yeah check the ground on the starter

if that dosent fix it roll start it if u have somewhere to do it

 

every time I have encountered a car with those symptoms, it has been the starter.

either the solenoid or the motor.

but starter, nonetheless.

 

Looks real nice and clean now....

But what were you thinking? When i do this i cover up the dizzy with multilple bags,,,and and remove the battery,,,and cover anything other electrical thing...you got something wet it seems,,,,,have you tried to jump start it ?

edit damn 56k you guys beat me

 

i had this happen to me the other day in my b18a civic and i was real pi$$ed off. i went to hte store came back out and nothing i turn the key starter wouldnt move at all. so luckily i call up my dad and he comes and we push start the car and havent had the problem since. now i havent washed the engine bay or anything but check the connection of the starter to the battery and i guess people here have been saying the ground on the starter.

 

yeah the same thing happened to my cuz and it was the little black wire that went on the starter. think it was a ground.

 

Deffanitly try push starting it and that will tell you if its the starter or not, also bang on the starter with a hammer, then try starting it.

You did atleast disconnect the battery before you washed the engine right?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Max Kling &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">also bang on the starter with a hammer, then try starting it.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I dont even want to ask.....expletive it, y would he want to do that again?

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Max Kling &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You did atleast disconnect the battery before you washed the engine right?</TD></TR></TABLE>

From the looks of it, I think he probably left the battery inside also

 

Check the dizzy for water. Also check the spark plug cylinders for water.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EL Vap133 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Check the dizzy for water. Also check the spark plug cylinders for water. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I dont think he took anything out or covered anything before he hosed it down which probably means it could be a number of different things that "could of happened"...... Well i guess next time he will learn to protect the electrical parts of his car before he decides to give it a bath

 

when I was a porter we used to wash engines with a hose and some degreaser all the time. never had a problem with any of them. off course afterwards we dried everything out with sompressed air. And you don't just aim the hose directly at electrical parts, but it's really not as bad for the car as you would think. Keep in mind that most of these parts get water condensation on them daily.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ILcrxsi1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> but it's really not as bad for the car as you would think.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Tell that to the original poster......

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ILcrxsi1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> Keep in mind that most of these parts get water condensation on them daily.</TD></TR></TABLE>

And there is a big difference between hosing down with alot of water and just collecting basic water condensation.....

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by crx2nr822 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

And there is a big difference between hosing down with alot of water and just collecting basic water condensation.....</TD></TR></TABLE>I never said there wasn't, notice I said don't aim the hose directly at the stuff. It's just that a lot of people on here think you can't wash an engine with a hose at all unless you bag everything electrical, and that's just a waste of time. JUst try to avoid it with the hose as best as possible. If it gets a little wet and you blow it out with compressed air it will be fine. If it entirely fails from a little water after it has been dried out, then it was probably going to go bad anyway.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ILcrxsi1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It's just that a lot of people on here think you can't wash an engine with a hose at all unless you bag everything electrical, and that's just a waste of time.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well the SMART thing to do is to try to protect all the electrical things that you can when washing the motor, but like you said you dont HAVE to.....but its just another precaution to take to try to prevent water from screwing up your electrical system
But the pressure washing method is alot better than the garden hose route when trying to clean the engine. By bagging most of the electrical stuff, you are covering your *** from more problems in the future.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by crx2nr822 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Well the SMART thing to do is to try to protect all the electrical things that you can when washing the motor, but like you said you dont HAVE to.....but its just another precaution to take to try to prevent water from screwing up your electrical system
But the pressure washing method is alot better than the garden hose route when trying to clean the engine. By bagging most of the electrical stuff, you are covering your *** from more problems in the future.</TD></TR></TABLE>true, but I was just saying that 99% of the time it's not necessary, unless you don't have an air compressor to dry things out with. or if your 15+ year old starter is going to take a **** on you

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ILcrxsi1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">or if your 15+ year old starter is going to take a **** on you </TD></TR></TABLE>

or distributor

 

Washed my engine bay without covering anything but the intake filter. After I hosed it down I let it sit in the sun for 15 minutes and started it up and idled another 10 minutes to let everything else dry. I didn't try any detailer stuff though.

 

engine bay looks nice

 

I have power washed the entire engine bay many times I just covered the air filter, just warm up the motor for a minute first dont get it hot, this way once you wash everything it will dry quickly

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ILcrxsi1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I never said there wasn't, notice I said don't aim the hose directly at the stuff. It's just that a lot of people on here think you can't wash an engine with a hose at all unless you bag everything electrical, and that's just a waste of time. JUst try to avoid it with the hose as best as possible. If it gets a little wet and you blow it out with compressed air it will be fine. If it entirely fails from a little water after it has been dried out, then it was probably going to go bad anyway.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks...this is exactly what I did....I have done this numerous times and this is the first time this had happened. Did I forget to mention the temp outside was like 95 deg and that engine dried up quickly. I always do it in the summer time for quicker dry times without a compressor and I did not hose the electrical parts, only the main engine like the block, intake manifold area.

I will try push starting it and see if that works but and the ground. I don't see how it would be the ground though because if it clicks that means there is a connection right? Then you mean to tell me the connection is lost? And then magically connects itself the next day? What I don't get is that every day before I try and start it, I check to see if there is power(dome lights, clock) and then start it. When I do, there is a click then lost power. So I leave it alone and do it again the next day.

I haven't had time to push start it cuz its in my driveway and my nieghbor is parked on the street somewhat behind me. So I would have to push start backwards and I don't want to loose control and smack into his RSX.

Thanks for the reply guys I will check everything out....keep'em coming.

 

Get a leafblower and air the **** outta the bay. Then let it dry out with the hood open for a couple days...

 

Thanks Tippy but it's been about a week and over 105 degrees here...I highly doubt that anything is wet in/on the engine.

Okay I tried push starting it today and WOOOHOOO!!! it started. Drove it around the block and runs fine. I check there is gas. So I park to see if I can start it the conventional way(by turning the key) and to my surprise, the car does NOT start! Now i'm like WFT?!? Back to square one. So I try push starting it and it works again. But check this out.

Before I start it I have power to the car i.e. dome light and stuff is on. I start it and "CLICK" no power. So I have to disconnect the battery for a couple of seconds and connect it back on. Then I push start it and the car works. Is this the criteria of a burnt out starter?

 

If you can get it to start by push starting, it sounds like your starter is going bad. Though I can't explain why everything loses power after you try to start it. Maybe there's a short in the starter and when you try to start it, it shorts everything out?

 

It sounds to me like the wire that goes from your ignition switch to the starter might have come loose, or off. Alternatively, it may be something with either the ground cable or the power cable, not making a good contact.

On the starter their should be a attach point for the battery cable. Put your car in neutral and turn the ignition key on. You should then be able to use a wire to connect between that and the small wire which goes to the starter solenoid. The starter should turn over and the car should start.