Car Wash can damage.

With all the mini computers in cars its common knowledge not to hose off the engine. One drop of water can short out a $400 to $1200 mini computer.

But using the undercarriage wash option at automatic car washes does the same thing. Its even worse because the pressure is a lot higher than a garden hose.

Car washes have high pressure jets that spray up under the car. The jets blast water all over motor up to the bottom of the hood. Just raise your hood after you go though a wash to see the proof.

The argument is that if the car is in good shape that wont happen. BS: there is no perfect car and any car can have a crack or gap in a wire or seal.

After every snow people line up at car washes to rinse off the salt and road grime from under their car. They may as well get garden hose and blast their engine.

I know its a trade off: salt under car vs car dying on road, calling tow truck, and some mechanic telling you that the computer is not working and that the bill will be over 1,000.

Reply to
BOCE1
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Interesting comment. However, cars are made to accomodate whatever they encounter and car washes wouldn't be around for long if they regularly did damage to the cars they wash. Do you (or anyone else here) have first-hand knowledge of a car's systems being damaged by a car wash? (Apart from removing loose bits of trim.)

Dan

(This account is not used for email.)

Reply to
Dan Beaton

The underside of the car is sprayed just driving on a wet road.

Reply to
Brent P

When did it become common knowledge not to hose off the engine? I have for years and regularly do use a pressure washer to keep the engine compartment and undercarriage clean. It makes it a lot easier to maintain and see problems like oil leaks when they are small and easily managed not to mention reducing the fire hazard created by heavy accumulations of oil and debris. In addition to being easier to maintain, it is much more asthetically pleasing. Any components that cannot withstand exposure to the everyday elements to which they are exposed should not be there in the first place. If they are defective to the point that a wash job disables them, they are already failed or unreliable and, unsuitable for continued use. The failure to keep the components clean in a highly corrosive operating environment is much more destructive than a good cleaning. It would probably be helpful in a corrosive environment to spray the components with some sort of corrosion inhibitor after cleaning and drying to retard the effects of the road salts. Leaving the road salts in place is a guaranteed way to lead to damage.

Lugnut

Reply to
lugnut

Yes. Car engines get hosed down all the time driving through puddles. If the computer is that poorly protected that an engine cleaning is going to damage it, there is a serious design issue.

That said, I repack all the connectors in my car with dielectric grease. And I do occasionally find sensor failures that are caused by damaged insulation; the car runs fine when the engine is dry but when it gets wet the sensor output is degraded. That's a problem, and you fix it.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

My old buddy and his two grown married sons regularly hose off the engines in their vehicles.

The reason I phoned J.C.Whitney's toll free phone number is because the right side door mirror of my van got knocked off in a car wash place and the mirror got broken.

The car wash place never did come up with a replacement (one of those tune up centers,you know) mirror for me.When my mirror gets here,I am taking my receipt on the mirror and my rceipt from the car wash place and ask them to refund me what my cost of the mirror from J.C.Whitney is.If they don't,I will go over their heads about that.The State Attorney General would know about it too and so would

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and the JT and Dave radio talk show.

Don't Get Mad,Get Even.~ George Hayduke. cuhulin

Reply to
cuhulin

All they are going to do it direct your attention to the sign at the entrance to the car wash that lists all the things (mirrors, antennas, etc.) that they are not responsible for if you enter the wash. Unless they agree to pay for it, you really don't have a leg to stand on.

Reply to
E Meyer

Eh, if you present it the right way they will probably pay, if they are reputable. Now retractable but not retracted and/or removable (such as Fuba) antennas, low hanging fog lights, etc. they will probably not cover, but parts of the car that are as delivered and in factory condition they will likely give you some consideration on.

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

Minicomputers don't fit in most cars. A small mini might fit in a wagon or SUV, but you'd want at least a pickup truck to carry a reasonable sized one.

Also, if it's common knowledge, why bother telling rec.autos.tech?

Ivan

Reply to
Ivan Jager

Newsflash: cars are designed to survive being driven in the rain. Think for once in your pathetic life.

Another newsflash: the ECU is sealed and typically mounted in the passenger compartment.

Reply to
AZ Nomad

Potheads are like that.

Reply to
AZ Nomad

Ivan Jager wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@unix33.andrew.cmu.edu:

Um, not quite. A minicomputer isn't a whole lot bigger than a microcomputer.

A minicomputer is still desktop-sized (but a bit on the "plus" side...), and runs something old, like VAX, Solaris, or UNIX.

A microcomputer can run operating systems like MicroSoft's MS-DOS (we're going back a few years here, young fella!), Microsoft's newfangled "Windows" interface, or that "Apple OS" promulgated by that long-haired Steve Jobs fella.

Reply to
Tegger

The smallest mini-computers I've seen were the size of large dorm room refridgerators. Larger ones were as big as regular ones.

Reply to
Brent P

The absolute smallest mini-computer I've seen was the size of an S-100 microcomputer -- about 2.5 times the size of the original PC.

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A more typical mini-computer would be like you said, dorm fridge sized:
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Bigger examples of mini-computers are the size of two to four full sized house fridges alongside each other:
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Reply to
AZ Nomad

Ooops: cut'n'paste error: I meant to post:

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Reply to
AZ Nomad

I was looking at

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and
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I am thinking about it. cuhulin

Reply to
cuhulin

Dont wear out your brains thinking about it. It is largely semantics.

We all know what you meant. 'Minicomputer' has a different meaning to many of us.

Reply to
<HLS

But,what would I do with a computer? I can read online newspapers around the World.

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I can read online science and technology and Military websites.I can email friends.I can access online news groups.I can send photos and microphone voice recordings with my emails.Po old dumb WebTV does all of that,and more for me.In 1999,Bo Gritz said on my Shortwave Radio,if you don't want to put up with the hassels of using a computer,go to Sears and buy a WebTV set top box.(Thanks,Bo) cuhulin

Reply to
cuhulin

I put my vehicles up on the hoist and spray them down with a powerwasher every few weeks in the winter months here in Michigan. The vehicles are a '91 Lumina, '99 Chevy P/U and a 2003 Trailblazer. I have had no problems with electronics failures and in the case of the Lumina it is about the most mint undercarrige I have ever seen on a 16 year old rust belt car, very little corrosion.

I firmly belive this contribues greatly to the longevity of a vehicle that is subjected to road salt. The connectors used in the wiring of a automobile are watertight and in the case of plugwires and such if they are affected by moisture then they need to be replaced!

Reply to
anumber1

The manager at the NAPA store says not to spray engine with hose. He's a senior manager been around for years. Clean it with a rag and brake parts cleaner only where needed. Unlike water it evaporates fast. He should know because he's the one who sells you the computerized parts when they short out.

The auto repair parts people love selling more parts to the lets hose off everything boys. Does your owners manual call for blasting the motor with a garden hose?

Water splash from road is different than a high pressure blast from a undercarriage wash. One has over 2000 psi the other doesn't. One comes from the side angle the other is blasting straight up to the bottom of the hood. For those of you who are still cant understand try this. Splash a glass of water in you face. Then use garden hose with blaster nozzle and spray your closed eyes. Maybe then you will understand something.

Reply to
J J

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