Running on 3 cylinders after washing around engine bay

[Cliocup182!]

Last night I was cleaning around the engine bay while the engine was off and cold. I didn’t start it up until today in the afternoon and it sounds like it’s running on 3 cylinders since. I just had a look at the coil pack and the leads into the coil pack and everything seems dry as a bone. I haven’t pulled the spark plug leads off the top of each of the plugs since the inlet manifold is a pain to remove, but everything seems dry on top of the cam cover.

would there be any other contributing factors to the car running like it’s on 3 cylinders apart from coil pack / HT leads and plugs?

I was forced to drive the car 100 miles today and it did sometimes shift from 3 cylinders to 4 cylinders and power became normal… but then shifted back to 3 cylinders and sounds like a Subaru Impreza…

Can someone advise on what to check next and/or replace please? Thanks in advance!!

 

[JamesBryan]

What exactly did you wash?

 

[Cliocup182!]

What exactly did you wash?

The strut towers and up the sides of the front wings. Obviously there would have been splashes going everywhere but not high volumes of water and at low pressure since it was just the end of a hose I used.

 

[Bluebeard]

It will probably be the plugs, they’re murder for it.
I’ve washed 30+ engine bays a month for about 20 years and never had an issue. Except with bloody 2.0 Clio’s. So I don’t do them anymore. 😂

 

[Cliocup182!]

It will probably be the plugs, they’re murder for it.
I’ve washed 30+ engine bays a month for about 20 years and never had an issue. Except with bloody 2.0 Clio’s. So I don’t do them anymore. 😂

Ok cheers for sharing!! The plugs are actually Bosch plugs and I’ve been meaning to change them out for NGK items so that’s what I’ll do and see if it cures the issue 👍🏻

 

[Gus]

It will be the plugs like Daniel says, one of the plug holes will have water down it. If you have compressed air you could try firing it down or get some rolled up kitchen rolls down there.

 

[Cliocup182!]

Thanks for your help guys! Started up the car this morning and light is still on but running normal. I’ve ordered up new NGK plugs and will fit this weekend 👍🏻

 

[JamesBryan]

Worth checking the engine bay fuse box too, seeing as you were round that area.

 

[Cliocup182!]

Okay. Have you got a photo of what fuse I should be checking please?

 

[Robbie Corbett]

I went through this last weekend. Was slightly damp down plug holes.

Inlet is under 10mins to remove. Don't leave it even if no miss as the plugs rot, so the next time you remove them all the s**t shale falls into cylinders.

I've washed bay twice, plugs were 6months old, took ages with a dyson and neo yo get all the crap out.

 

[Robbie Corbett]

Also - in the future if you have a missfire like this and absolutely HAVE to drive the car go round unplugging the injectors one by one until you find the missing cylinder, then leave it unplugged for the journey.

For 100miles you would have had petrol going into one cylinder and not firing doing nothing but send the fuel trims mad and washing all the oil off that bore.

 

[Cliocup182!]

Great advice thanks guys 👍🏻👍🏻