Help, please, anyone?!

[embabe]

So I think my jeep is hydrophobic! I took it to a car wash to get all cleaned up for our two year anniversary together (yes, I've officially had her for two years ) -- but as soon as I pulled it into the car wash and it did the little undercarriage spray thing, it sputtered and died and I couldn't get it to start back up again! Luckily, I had been shown a trick to try in situations like these, so I hopped out in the middle of the car wash and opened up the hood and we somehow managed to get it started again. Of course, I, being the glutton for punishment that I am, decided to give it another go. Again, the same thing happened, and the little trick didn't work! Of course, I was in a panicked state seeing as I didn't know how I was going to get out of this mess, so I called my uncle who just so happened to have left to go camping! So, I called my dad and he said he'd come down and help figure out how to tow it out. After I hung up with him I jumped out to try the little trick thingy again and it worked! Whew.. so I left and decided not to go to automatic car washes anymore. But I'm still curious as to what happened, any ideas?

 

[Rusted]

YJ right? How much water was in the engine compartment? Even a little water in the distrubutor cap will make that happen.

 

[ubae]

It sounds like you may have got some water in your distributor. I heard spraying some WD40 in there might help to keep it running when it gets wet like that.

 

[embabe]

It's a TJ, and I don't think there was too much water in the engine compartment. It was one of those undercarriage sprayers in the automatic car wash and I just couldn't picture it getting too much water up that high. I even carry a can of WD-40 in my jeep too.... I was just so confused... and then the lady had the nerve to ask if I had tried letting a guy drive it in for me...

 

[Caleb]

I'm curious, so what was the "trick"? that will prolly help eliminate some things. I too think it sounds like water in the distro (it doesn't take much to kill it). You may want to check and make sure your cap is not cracked. Basically it is going to be something thats effected by water (no kidding) but that usually means electrical, check for bare wires that could be shorting out, check for open or cracked fuse boxes, where's the computer of TJs...you may want to make sure its not getting wet. I dont think an alternator would cause that but it could. If this is a new symptom (meaning you have taken your TJ through a car wash before) then I would look for something being cracked on not sealed all the way.

 

[embabe]

The "trick" was a little drying off... a little jiggling of some cables, a little drying off anything that was wet... I looked to see if I could find any bare wires or anything that looked unusual to me (ok, I know that doesn't say much), but it was rather dimly lit in the car wash. It's never done this before either. The only other time it died on me was in a driveway after playing mechanic on it all day.... (where's Brett when you need him to explain what happened that time??) Umm... other than that... when my uncle helped me give it the once over a week ago, we didn't see anything cracked... I have a "weeping" radiator which is really minor and my catalytic converter sounds like its about to fall off... but other than that... Isn't there a sensor in/near the catalytic converter? Would that have anything to do with it?

edit: I also tried to check for codes, but it wasn't giving any...

 

[ubae]

Is you radiator leaking from up on top of it?

 

[Rusted]

Do the other electrical things like lights work? headlights? horn? etc?? Or is the whole thing dead? Does it crank over like it is trying to start, but just never does?

 

[embabe]

It's "weeping" right where you open the hood... just looks kinda crusty really... not like it's leaking fluid or anything...

 

[embabe]

No... wasn't the battery.. was cranking like it was trying to start. Everything else electrical was working ie: radio, speakers, lights, etc. I just cleaned the battery and checked the terminals about 2 weeks ago. (they were really yucky :sick: )

 

[Caleb]

The "trick" was a little drying off... a little jiggling of some cables, a little drying off anything that was wet... I looked to see if I could find any bare wires or anything that looked unusual to me (ok, I know that doesn't say much), but it was rather dimly lit in the car wash. It's never done this before either. The only other time it died on me was in a driveway after playing mechanic on it all day.... (where's Brett when you need him to explain what happened that time??) Umm... other than that... when my uncle helped me give it the once over a week ago, we didn't see anything cracked... I have a "weeping" radiator which is really minor and my catalytic converter sounds like its about to fall off... but other than that... Isn't there a sensor in/near the catalytic converter? Would that have anything to do with it?

edit: I also tried to check for codes, but it wasn't giving any...

The sensor in the cat is the O2 sensor and that shouldn't cause this but check it make sure the wires aren't bare or shorting out on it. I'd look it over real good in the daylight. Climb around underneath it and see what you can see. There are sensors all over that could be culprits but your best bet is to visually inspect it for anything is some good daylight. Kind of hard to say what it could be cause there are so many things it could be.

 

[Caleb]

No... wasn't the battery.. was cranking like it was trying to start. Everything else electrical was working ie: radio, speakers, lights, etc. I just cleaned the battery and checked the terminals about 2 weeks ago. (they were really yucky :sick: )

that again sounds like lack of spark, which would be a wet distro...

 

[embabe]

Do you have any pics/diagrams of where the sensors would be? I've never had to look at them on my own, and now that the entire family (including both jeep loving uncles) is out camping without me, I'm kinda ...well... clueless?? Ok... well maybe not entirely...

 

[74highboy]

ill bet it had or has water in the cap id take the cap off and clean it out and see if it helps

 

[Jeremy]

i have had mine almost three years, and i have never washed it.
why?
i am afraid it will all wash down the drain. the dirt and the grime is the onlything holding it all together.



is it an auotmatic? if so check the crank position sensor(cps) it wont start if you have a bad CPS. but it may not even crank, i dont remember
AndyD had that problem, sometimes it would and sometimes it wouldnt.

 

[JeeperG]

i have had mine almost three years, and i have never washed it.
why?
i am afraid it will all wash down the drain. the dirt and the grime is the onlything holding it all together.



is it an auotmatic? if so check the crank position sensor(cps) it wont start if you have a bad CPS. but it may not even crank, i dont remember
AndyD had that problem, sometimes it would and sometimes it wouldnt.

I don't think its the CPS I burnt mine (the wire) a while back when I put the Header on. I believe it still turned everything just would not start.

 

[embabe]

Nope, it's manual... that makes me cool, right? ...
Anywho... seems to run alright now, but I think I might go take a look in a few minutes... any other ideas on what I should look for? I suppose I could even take some pics of the distributor and you guys could tell me what you think....

 

[chadschoon]

mine did this a few times but always seems to start but it didint do it when it got wet. I believe the standerds have the cps sensior to but I never found out what mine was either. most likely what everyone else said sounds like no spark (distributor cap)

dang sensors anyways. whatever happend to just the flat out straight forward V8???? new vehicles suck!!!!

 

[embabe]

OK, so I couldn't see anything wrong or cracked, do you guys see anything?

 

[Klif01]

When it first started up (after the fact that it wouldn't) was it running really rough or sluggish? ie you push on the accelerator and it takes a couple seconds to rev up?


I would say 9 times out of 10 its the distributer or cap/rotor when its doing that.


To try somthing out you could get a plastic garbage bag and wrap it around the distributer and the cap and rotor then go back through the car wash. If it does it again, look somewhere else, if it works fine, thats where your problem lies...

If you're ever in the bountiful area during the day or ogden in the evening/weekend I could probably look at it as well...