HerbsWRX

I started driving my car and the brake light and battery light wouldnt go off so i ignored it . I got down the road a little and the abs light came on . When i went to put my lights on my gauges went crazy and the lights were dim . I used my ap to pull the codes and came up with 6
p0500 - speed sensor
p1518 - starter switch
p1590 - neutral position switch
p0136 - rear 02 sens
p0131 - front 02 sens
p0132 -front 02 sens

Ok now let me say that I think it's a bad altenator but no code for that . The reason i think this is 1. i washed my engine yesterday and 2. the dim lights , freaking gauges , battery light , abs light , volt gauge only reading 10 when the car was running , and now not starting at all . Could someone please shed some light possibly ?

Gleb83

either your alternator or you shorted something out and the alternator is just one of the things that doesn't work anymore.
I had something simillar happen to a friend, his car wouldn't start after an engine bay wash. We gave it a few hours to dry and all was well, hopefully your situation is no worse.

RoadSpike

Maybe the low voltage is causing the sensors to freak out a lil

You should be getting about 14 volts when the alternater is pumping juice. that or the alternator shorted out and possibly a fuse on the alternator has been blown.

Check your fuses on the engine bay just for kicks and giggles, what could it hurt anyways. Look for any sort of burn mark that could indicate a wire shorted out.

Hope you find your problem soon

mmboost

iTrader: (2)

Sounds like you still have water in there which is creating a short, or some really bad oxidation fostered by the water. I'd let the car just sit and idle for a good while... you dont want to go driving around with wacky sensors. Let it idle and rev it a bit every minute or so to keep the juices flowing. Maybe do this for 15 minutes. If you have a code reader/clear-er use it. If not the 2nd best is to try and reset the ECU with a battery disconnect and a few seconds with the foot on the break. (Won't due much for your issues, but what the heck). Then I would pull apart as many plugs and electrical harnesses as you can find where you doused with water and check them for water, residue, oxidation, etc in side.

For future reference ALWAYS put plastic around ALL electronic parts when washing the engine bay. And if you can, find a steaming device instead of a hose

Just for a chuckle... I had a saturn some years back and I did the same thing. Except on a saturn the spark plug wells are super deep. I was running on 3 cylinders because one was so sauced it was shorting to the block instead of across the plug. Fortunately I had some paper towels in the car and stuffed them into the well... I was about 1 mile from home :-/ Fortunately I had a pair of pliers in the car to get to the water logged paper towels now stuck in the well. After about 1/2 hour of soaking up water and idling the engine with an occassional rev, the car came back to life.

jason

jason

HerbsWRX

Thanks for the replies guys . I usually take the air hose and blow everything off after a wash but i was lazy the other day and didnt . I screwed up my old mazda protege the same way ...one would think that i would have learned my lesson .

spectra

Well I have had something similar happen just this last week. I was stopped at a light and all my lights and electrical devices shut down and it killed my car, but I just had to restart the car. Then the next day I was on the road going around 70mph and the ABS light came on and the check engine light flickered a couple of times and the radio lost power along with the rearview mirror and they just reset there selves, all of this would just last for 10 seconds or so. As I kept going on the trip it did this several times and I notices it would take power way from my car a little and have a little jerky motion when the ABS, and Check Engine light would flicker. I don't know what the problem is. This same thing happened around 6months ago and I took it in for service and they said nothing was wrong so who knows.

zumnwrx

iTrader: (6)

dang all this is making me worry

i never cover anything up when i degrease my engine bay.. didn’t think it was necessary since it has a open hood and is rally inspired thought atleast it would be able to resist water

i usually just use the hoses normal flow to rinse off the degreaser stuff...

guess i need to change my ways huh?
edgar,