Hesitating in Car Wash

[nghtshd88]

So I took my 3.0 to the car wash this morning and after I got out the idle starting hesitating and bouncing back and forth after it felt like it wanted to stall. Im assuming this is what happens when the oxygen sensors get wet? I know this always happened a little on my mustang but on this car they seem to me tucked upwards not on the ground like in my mustang. I also didnt get an underbody was and Ive taken the car out plenty of times in some serious rain. Is there anything else that could cause this if it got wet?

 

[SteveSC]

Were there any check engine lights? It doesn't sound like the oxygen sensors to me. There are many sensors that could get wet. Any sensor that is electric (which is pretty much all of them) will cause problems if wet. I would check for any loose connections and bare wires under the hood.

 

[joegr]

I can assure you that it is not because of O2 sensors getting wet. There are several things it could be, but the most likely one is water on top of the engine in and around the plug wells. The V6 has no covers over the ignition coils, but the boot usually seal enough to keep water away from the plugs. Some of your boots may not be well sealed. Also, probably the foam gaskets under the wiper cowl have probably fell apart and need to be replaced. This is not an uncommon problem. When these fail, water from the windshield area pours onto the top of the engine.

 

[LS4me]

I can assure you that it is not because of O2 sensors getting wet. There are several things it could be, but the most likely one is water on top of the engine in and around the plug wells. The V6 has no covers over the ignition coils, but the boot usually seal enough to keep water away from the plugs. Some of your boots may not be well sealed. Also, probably the foam gaskets under the wiper cowl have probably fell apart and need to be replaced. This is not an uncommon problem. When these fail, water from the windshield area pours onto the top of the engine.

So I took my 3.0 to the car wash this morning and after I got out the idle starting hesitating and bouncing back and forth after it felt like it wanted to stall. Im assuming this is what happens when the oxygen sensors get wet? I know this always happened a little on my mustang but on this car they seem to me tucked upwards not on the ground like in my mustang. I also didnt get an underbody was and Ive taken the car out plenty of times in some serious rain. Is there anything else that could cause this if it got wet?

DON'T DRIVE ANYMORE UNTIL THE ENGINE DRIES (unless you want to replace one or both cats!)! I washed my engine years ago with the same results. I foolishly ignored the symptoms and drove the car anyway. I ended up paying for a new cat as well as coils and on the passenger side. As Joe said, water pools in the valleys around the coils and shorts them out.

 

[nghtshd88]

I can assure you that it is not because of O2 sensors getting wet. There are several things it could be, but the most likely one is water on top of the engine in and around the plug wells. The V6 has no covers over the ignition coils, but the boot usually seal enough to keep water away from the plugs. Some of your boots may not be well sealed. Also, probably the foam gaskets under the wiper cowl have probably fell apart and need to be replaced. This is not an uncommon problem. When these fail, water from the windshield area pours onto the top of the engine.

It only did that for a minute or two..

Bingo, a small plume of steam came out the drivers side upon exiting I figured one of the seals around the cowl might have caused the steam but didnt know it could affect it that much..

BTW- the coils are out in the open? Are the plugs as well? I just recently bought the car and wanted to check them but thought a ton of stuff had to come off to get to them on this motor.

And a dumb questions but how would you go about detailing it if its that sensitive?

 

[joegr]

The coils do not have have covers over them, but half of them have the top half of the intake manifold over them. This mostly blocks your easy access, but it doesn't stop the water.
The coils are on top of the plugs. The rubber boots on the coils cover most of the plug and, in theory, seal the wells the plugs are in.

So, three of the coils and three of the plugs are easy to get to. The other three aren't super difficult, but do involve more work.

 

[1LoudLS]

years ago, a ford body shop had to repair my 00 V6, they called me to come and pick it up, they were kind enough to power wash under the hood while i was signing for everything, hop in the car and it is running like sh!t, asked the guy about it and he made up some bull about how perfect it was when he gave it the test drive personally. and he said it should smooth out in just a minute or two of driving on the way home, well i said it sounds like a load to me but hes the guy that knows what is going on, not me. long story short, got about two miles away and it got ten times worse and the CEL started flashing, well i turned it right around and drove it back to them and told them to call me when it was back to the way it was supposed to be, guy called me later that day and tried to tell me that i must have done something before i brought it in that damaged the cats, even longer story cut shorter, a week later, i had a new set of cats for the price of "on the house"

bottom line, if a V6 starts running like crap after any encounter with water, shut the motor off right away until everything is 100% dry

 

[1LoudLS]

And a dumb questions but how would you go about detailing it if its that sensitive?

with a wet rag, not with a ton of water.