So Saturday I decided to detail the engine bay...It came out great! But....after going to the "5 car.." meet at Ultimate Audio Sat night , the engine started missing.. First thought that came to mind was water in the spark plug tubes...pulled one of the plug wire out and damn at the water stuck a rolled up paper towel down the tube to soak up any excess water. Pulled the next wire and pulled the wire right out the boot and terminal...by this point I'm pretty irritated and didn't bother going any further lol considering the meet was in the morning and now my LS sounds like a steam engine choo choo!!! So finally got my plugs, wires, caps, rotors and valve cover gasket set. Looks like I'm gonna have some fun when I get off today

 

I can't tell you how many cars I've detailed and cleaned engines this way... and never had a problem... until I did my Mom's 95 LS400... then had the same problem as yours... with 130K on it had never changed the plugs or wires and figured it was time...I found water in only one plug socket... passenger side, back of engine... even with the rubber grommets over the plugs, water still got in there and messed things up. It was running rough. My dad had taken it to Pratt Brothers over in Ft Worth and they told him not to ever detail the engine like that... never heard of that. Anyways, you're current approach will fix the problem... just sorry it happened and not sure why it does with these engines... have fun today...

 

lol Thanks, well now that its clean...hopefully i can keep it that way without going through this again I had a Miata that did the same back in the day so i kinda expected this haha

 

It's funny how when i was a tech at toyota we would always clean engine like this, spray 9 and hose it down. However, when I did the same to my 90 LS after i replaced the valve cover gaskets it got water into the sparkplug tubes and was doing the exact thing your car was doing. Same thing happened for my dad's 98 tacoma I learned and will not do that ever again haha.

 

I should've just stuffed the tubes with paper towels Its worked in the past...but i was lazy and didn't feel like taking all the molding off the engine...now i have to!

 

lol pop the hood and let it bake in the sun for a few hours and dry the moisture up.

You're supposed to foil/plastic bag the sensitive electrical stuff.

 

I wish it was that easy lol

 

It's a good reason to do a tune up anyways...

 

Next time leave it running... Start it cold and then hit it with the pressure washer, but quick passes only... What I do, degrease, loosely brush all the **** off and then hit it with the pressure washer top to bottom, side to side as to make sure all degreaser is removed so it doesn't sit on rubber tubes and bakes on them with time.

This, too. I never do it though...

 

I know I'll still do it... because it makes it look factory fresh...
I use simple green, sprayed all over the engine compartment... let it sit for a bit...
Then use the power washer, or even a regular hose if not too bad and rinse it all off.
You can repeat this if necessary...
Then drive it home to dry it off some... then cover the whole compartment with Armor All...just mist it on..
don't wipe it off... just close it up and let it dry... comes out looking brand new.
I'll just have to be careful with the wires and electrics....

 

i'm always weary on using a high press washer in the engine bay for this reason. they do get the crud off better but risk getting water in places where it shouldn't.

simple green, normal running pressure, and scrub brush is what i use of course after covering the vitals like the alternator (had one short out before in my honda). also never wash a HOT engine! the sudden temp change can cause havoc on brittle parts.

 

I spray the stuff in discreet places and wipe it off with a rag. Too many places water will pool up and sit. When mixed with oil and grease, it is a sure recipe that it will forever be a gooey mess there, namely the intake valley area.

I use a squirt bottle and spray off the areas that I know will drain. A hose isn't coming close to the engine bay with all the hard-cracking rubber fittings in there. Might be fine for an engine `5 years newish but north of 10 years

 

Yea, I do that everytime.. although I noticed when I took the spark plug cover off that the one boot was halfway off lol

I used B52 degreaser and hit the bay with WD40 Always turns out mint!

 

Sorry man.
This is why I usually only spot clean with a bucket, spray bottle and a few towels.

 

You'll have a hell of a fun time changing that cap and rotor, best go to lexls.com for the tutorial!