Thread: Something off happened the other day...

So on Saturday, it was nice and the wife and I washed our cars. I always wash under the hood. I don't spend too much time. But wipe off all the painted surfaces, radiator rail, hood, inner fenders, etc. Just makes it nice to work on it when I have to. Anyway, sprayed it off, and it looked fine. We had plans to goto a friends house later in the night. Jump in the GTP, and goto drive off. But there is a SES light. Hook up my DHP real quick, and check it. The DHP says there isn't anything wrong. So I clear the code and take off. But as I am driving, the shifts seem a little firmer than usual. Everything else is fine. But just shifts a little harder. Not neck breaking or anything. And the wife didn't notice till I told her about it. But she did think it was different too. Drove maybe 10 miles. Check the tranny fluid when I got there. Everything looked fine.

When we went to leave later in the evening, I started the car and it idled really rough for about 30 seconds. Everything cleared up and drove fine then. Did shift a little hard a couple times like before, but not as bad. Next day, went to church, and everything was normal. Car has been driving like it should ever since.

Not sure what the issue was, maybe wet electrical connections. But everything seems fine now. With this many miles, anything is possible.

This is why, although I would love to have a clean engine bay, have been afraid to use water under the hood. Glad what ever it was cleared up.

Originally Posted by archemedes

wet connection is more than likely, may be worth looking into before a big rain storm

Thats the thing, I drive my car in every weather, from hot sun, to rain storms, to snow. Nothing like this ever happened before. I can't imagine that I did anything worse than a rain storm would be. But....you never know.

The only time I have ever run into an issue with washing my engine bay was on my previous Grand Prix. The coil packs on that one were down low on the motor (go figure) and one of the rubber seals that the pack sit on was messed up. So when I power washed the engine bay or was out chasing storms it would start to miss until it dried up.

Ive never had a connector leak on me though, but with your symptoms regarding the tranny, I wonder if perhaps the tranny connector got some moisture in it?

If I hose off the engine bay, I always cover the alternator, fuse box, PCM, and air filter (not the last two now that I've got the WizAired). Never had a problem. Could be a crack in some wiring insulation.