99 Base Honda Prelude



I went to get my oil changed at a mechanic's shop today and of because oil leaks I found on my drive way, I asked the shop to check if my car was leaking. They said that they were unable to say whether it really was or where it originated from because the bay was so very dirty with oil grime/grease. They advised that I get the engine washed. I went to wash it off myself today and I drove home fine after that. I get home on my drive way, and recheck the engine for anything soap/degreaser that I could have missed and followed it up with some water from home. (There was a large patch that I cleaned up left of the alternator.) I restart the engine and it idles fine, but when I revved it up a little bit it wanted to stall but didn't. I gave it some gas and the stalling feeling went away. I then proceeded to drive it a little more, another quarter mile or so and VTEC worked fine and all.

My question is did I FUBAR my engine in anyway? Was the stalling a precursor for what is to come soon? What could the possible cause be? I will also note that when the engine was about to stall out, some belts were squeaking, perhaps my AC belt? It has squeaked before when the engine was dirty and the AC was on. When the stalling feeling went away, so did the squeaking.


FOOT NOTES:
Engine dirty from possible oil leak
Mechanic advises I clean engine bay so they could get a better look at things before saying anything
I wash it myself
Car drives fine, then almost stalls after I follow up with some water at home
I drive around car idles fine. Everything seems fine.


Sorry for the long essay. I don't have much car knowledge, I am just a struggling college student trying to just have a working car to get from point A to point B any insight that could be said to calm my nerves right now would be greatly appreciated. TIA. The only logical thing that I can think of is that I got my alternator a little wet from the washing and the belts were wet.

 

Sounds to me like you may just have gotten the plug wires wet or maybe the distributor cap .I would say see what happens in the morning if it still runs poorly try pulling the dist cap and see if its wet inside and dry it out . Try opening the hood and letting the sun hit the engine to help dry things out a bit look for any connectors that may have gotten wet and try to dry them out or off .You probably didnt hurt anything its probably just wet .The belts were probably slipping because they are wet to .Try it in the morning and see what happens I wouldnt lose sleep over it if I were you !

 

Thank you so much. For the quick reply. Anyone else want to chime in please feel free.

 

What nextproject97 ^^^ said

 

Did you spray cold water while the engine was still hot? If so, the cyliner head can warp as a result. Like another person has mentioned, check for damped distributor cap as well as plugs, and wires.

 

Engine was warm, hopefully. It was driven less than a mile from where I was to where I washed it. Engine has sat for several hours, perhaps four to five hours. Everything seems to be fine today. How would I check for a damped distributor, plugs and wires? I assume that it would require some tools. I really do not have any knowledge or tools to call my own. Although I wish I did. I am too mechanically challenged to do this. I think that I will count my blessings as is and take it to the mechanic's again this Monday before I mess things up further.

 

umm.. no the cylinder head won't warp to water, and even if it did it wouldn't warp that bad. The problem with a warped head is that it won't mate to the surface of the block but being that this motor was stilly fully assembled and torqued down warpage won't even matter.

 

Well, feel free to give it a try and spray cold water on a hot engine. Then report back with your finding. Rapid cooling on hot aluminum is guarantee trouble. One can expect similar result from pouring cold water in a radiator of an overheated engine, or spray cold water directly on hot brake rotors without allowing it to cool off first.

 

next time use aluminum foil to cover up the dizzy, any wiring, cai, and alternator. then degrease and spray down. i did it the same way you did and mine did the same as yours but itll go away just drive it and let the heat take care of it.