I have a 97 civic and idk what's going on I cleaned my engine bay with engine degreaser and water, then went out to get food and on the way back home my car started freaking the **** out. It started doing this about 30 minutes after driving. Does anyone possibly know the cause of why my car is doing this?

CEL is just a O2 sensor code

 

Oh hey, your CEL is on!

Pull the codes. Post them. You've been around long enough to know the rules.

 

Yeah, the CEL will tell you something faster than any forum poster will. Water in the dizzy would be my first wild guess.

 

CEL is just from a bad O2 issue I have

 

MY guess, you have water in your plug leads. Pull them and spray some air in there to dry them off.

Had a similar issue with my SRT-4

 

+1 to deschlong's suggestion as well.

 

Oh really? And since the CEL was on before you started having issues, how do you know there aren't any new codes? Stick a paperclip in there and find out. It's too easy to whinge about doing it.

Boys and girls, this is why, when your CEL comes on, you ******* fix it.

 

ive cooked distributors making this same mistake. folks, your engine bay and the parts in it are NOT waterproof. cover things like distributors and alternators with plastic bags before washing your bay. common sense.

 

Doesn't take a lot of common sense to know you should cover the distributor, spark plug wires (distributor end) and alternator with aluminum foil or visqueen before cleaning the engine. Unplug spark plug wires from distributor, remove distributor cap from dizzy and allow all to air dry or fan dry (quicker) or lightly with compressed air.
My dad used to spray WD40 on the wires and top of dizzy on his F-150 but, I am not sure if it gels with rubber wires.

 

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