idle race up and down & jerky acceleration after engine wash (95 C220)
 

1. I swear it is coincidence, but I was washing our 95 C220 then decided to do the engine bay with this power washer , well started the car, give it some good sprays, then it cut out! After that it was never the same, the idle race up and down and on acceleration is very jerky. The car is undrivable it won’t get pass this jerky stage …I’ve check vacuum lines and electrical connections all seems to be ok…

2. I had the following codes P0510, P1444, P0302 &P0300. I’ve check the vacuum lines and swap the “Purge flow switchover valve (Y27/6)” from my 600SEL with no luck, also did the same with Purge switchover valve (Y58/1) no luck with that…Even swap out the ECU (from a good C220) no luck with that…One of the benefit of having more then one Mercedes, a lot of parts are same and/or interchangeable to do this sort of thing:D. Did the spray starting fluid around the engine bay thing, no change or suction noted.

3. At this point I’m at a lost could it be the water? It’s been a few days now and should have dried if it was. Or did I blew something off/loose, but closely inspection can’t see anything:confused:…


Thanks in advance,
Thai GI sends

A No-no
 

Bad, Bad, boy ! :mad: Never, ever pressure wash under the hood ! Ever !

Water gets into electronics, connectors, and , and, well, you found out what happens.

I recommend getting it to your professional MB technician and have him check everything over.

I get about one vehicle every 2 months driven (barely) or towed in to my shop because of this 'self-created' problem.

I hope you did NOT damage/shortout any sensitive electrical components. ($$$$$$$)

Hope others out there are listening to me.:eek:

I have pressure washed under the hood and luckily have had no problems, ever. Though I am very cognizant of the electronics, etc. and never wash the engine area with the engine running.

My guess is you found a loose connector or chaffed wire and that wire or connector is sitting in a pool of water or corrosion. If you have compressed air, try blowing out any water left behind in areas that may harbor both water and wires. WD40 is good too, 'cuz that's what it means - WD = Water Displacement, formula #40.

My wife dropped a brand new cordless phone in the toilet while cleaning up after my poor aims rendering the phone totally useless. I said I'll take it back to the store if you have the receipt, but none could be found. Oh, by the way, the toilet was clean when this happened. Anyway, I took the battery out of the phone and let it set for two months or so, refusing to buy another new 2.4gHz phone. We then moved to our new home and for *****s and giggles (pun intended) I plugged in the battery and the phone worked. Even the memory and stored phone numbers came back. I was surprised.

So, it is likely your electronics will eventually dry out, unless something went bad while it was running. But hey, I could be wrong. I am curious to know what the outcome is.

Michael B.

I've made that mistake several times on my W124...and it would take over a week for stuff to sort itself out!

Primary breach would be water penetrating the ignition cover. Water probably "pools" around the coils and spark plug wells...the misfiring is dramatic!!

That would be correct...
Pop the plug connectors off and blow dry the water from the spark plug cavities ..then start it up...........

The misfires are compounded by the fact that the ECU is prgrammed to cut the fuel delivery to the injectors when there is spark misfires...so, the problem is magnified to fuel and ignition faults by a simple water shorting condition to ignition secondary [ spark]

spark plugs!!!
 

1. Ok the last thing I did was swap out OVP relay, that didn't help. At that point I've give-up, I've followed the books and all available resources it did not work, now this is where the experience comes in, the folks that work on these cars everyday. So I call my inde up and told him I was bringing the car in he asked me what happen, I told him from the beginning. He advised to go get some spark plugs from the DEALER ONLY R/R them then call him back...I'm like yea right (to myself of curse). I've been washing engines since High School, and never had a problem...

2. Well after the R/R of the spark plug, I start it up and it was 85% better, I took it for a test run it still jerks but very little. As I drove more and more it was better, so I disconnect the battery for the night so it can "relearn" everything, (not sure if this is true statement but did it anyways). The next morning it started fine and ran great, just a little rough shifting gears, but it was my wife's car and I didn't know if this was normal. I took it to my inde and told him what has transpired. He test drove it and said it was one of the smoothest C220 he've seen! That this model shifts like this. I came home and drove it myself for a few days just incase, so my family don't get stranded. It was running good, I gave it back to my wife and she said it actually ran better!

3. So there it is, it was the spark plugs, the water did something to them! I guess now all the codes did make sense... I just thought, what if I didn't have those other MBs to swap parts with it would have gotten expensive!:D:rolleyes::eek: Also what if I had a bad inde and he tells me to bring it in and charge me for all the parts and labor!:devilish:



Thai GI sends