Electrical Problems after engine got hosed. Need some help on this one.

I'll try and make this short, I have a 91 SE that I brought in to get a paint job. The detail guy decided to hosed down the engine to clean it up. When I got their to pick it up, the hood was up and they were trying to start it. I walked up to the smell of gas fumes and told them to shut it down. After several minutes of blowing everything off with an air hose we finally got it started to the sound of clinking and clanking, lifters were knocking. Mind you this has been one of the smoothest engines I've ever driven. After a few minutes it got back to it's old self. Drove it back to work, in a major rainstorm, but everthing seemed to work ok. Didn't notice the small stuff though. When I got home, still raining, I shut it off, opened the door and the seat belt didn't retract, I thought that's strange so I started it back up and opened the door and the seat belt retracted. I shut it off again and opened the door and notice that the door lights were not coming on, got out to lock the car, put the key in and the auto door locks would not engage, got back in started it back up and used the master switch on the door and they locked down fine. One more thing when I open the door the security light on the dash doesn't come and of course it doesn't arm when I try to lock the car with the key since the door locks aren't engaging. But Hey, other than that it was a great paint job. Jeesh, if anyone have any suggestions or comments I would definately appreciated them.

rottie

Reply to
rottie
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Did they remove the button in the door jamb that turns on the interior lights to paint? If so the connector might not be fully seated. If they pulled off the wiring harness that runs from the car body into the door (between the hinges), some of the insulation on the wires might have cracked and is now shorting against the metal (it is 13 years old).

Check all the fuses & breakers. There is a good chance that dousing the engine compartment caused temporary shorts that blew fuses. Also check any exposed wire connectors you see in the engine compartment. Pop them apart and dry off the contacts.

The valve train noise starting the engine could mean they got water in the oil & maybe the trans. I would change the oil and trans fluid immediately.

If this all happened in the last few days and it's raining besides, it's likely that everything has not yet dried out. The systems that did not blow fuses or self destruct internally should return to normal in a few more days.

Reply to
E. Meyer

Checked all the fuses last night, A'ok on them. The weather broke and the sun came out today, after work everything was up and working normally, guess I got lucky on this one. Going to take your advice and get the oil and trans changed this weekend. Thanks for the feedback e52 I appreciate it.

rottie

Reply to
rottie

This is a follow up to the problem I had a couple of weeks ago.

Still been having problems with the above issues, got out this morning and it was dead in the water, would not start. Thinking it might be the battery I purchased by Sears, got the trusty power pack out of the trunk and managed to fire it up to get it to sears where I purchased the damn battery. They did the diagnostics and said the alternator was bad and that I needed to have the serpentine belts replaced. To the tune of about $600. They replaced the battery for $12 since I had a full warrenty, I said I'm going to take it to my mech. that could give me a better deal. Got it over to him and it turn out to be a bad link coming off the positive side of battery going to the alternator. I remember when they started the engine up at the paint shop the positive side of the battery had a little smoke coming off of it, guess that's when the link melted and disconnected. Anyway guess I got lucky today the battery cost me $12 and the link cost the same.The 91 has a heck of a harness coming of positive side of the battery. Just can't give up on this Max, still runs like a jackrabbit with a 130k. Incredible, thanks meyer for your input.

rottie

Reply to
rottie

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