after i got back from uwharrie i pressure washed the entire interior of my rubicon just like i had done in my '00 sahara dozens of times. when i cranked it monday morning to head out my engine light was on and the jeep was sputtering as if it was losing all spark every time i took off from a stop. it was ok to drive, it just had a stumble in the engine. i made an appointment to take it in to my dealer but they couldnt get to me for a few days. this morning the stumbling stopped, and this afternoon the engine light went out. obviously i got something wet (and it eventually dried) when pressure washing the interior of my jeep, but i cant figure out what could have caused that. any ideas on what to hit with some silicone? washing out my interior is a great advantage of owning a jeep (never would have considered it on any of my trucks) and its not a practice i plan on changing. thanks,
sputtering rubi
Apr 27, 2004
12 Replies
i havent washed the outside of my jeep yet, just the inside.
If the check engine light was on, then there's a trouble code stored. That could give you a clue.
3 consecutive good trips will cause the light to go out. After that, it takes 40 warm up cycles without the problem happening again to erase the DTC from memory.cool, thanks. ill pull the code and see what it says.
Only the interior, not the engine compartment or something? Man, that's whacked... I can't imagine what would cause that. Were you cleaning up pretty high on the floor boards from the interior? Maybe take a peek around inside the hood along the firewall... in the general area of any of the little rubber 'plugs' that lead to inside the tub. I'm thinking some water must have gotten through somewhere, but I sure can't think of what it hit.
Dave
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heh....i cant really drop the kids off to school with orange powder all over their clothes. :-) the outside and engine compartment get washed when fording.
i pressure washed _everything_ in my interior to include the dash, a couple quick passes over my factory cd player and even a direct shot, although from a distance, over my factory subwoofer. i did the same thing in my sahara dozens of times and never had a problem, although sometimes it would take a couple days for the cd player to dry out.
Nathan,
You're more brave than me. The dirt on my CJs never got into the dash, so it wasn't any big deal. I'd be afraid to spray my TJ like that. I know people do, but with my luck I'd pop both airbags. :)
It might just take more time to dry everything out. Like another poster said, the dash light will eventually go out if the problem gets resolved. In any event, you are under warranty and as long as they don't find any rainbow trout behind the dash, you should be fine.
Do you have any pics of your trail ride? Sounds fun.
Nathan W. Collier wrote:
.....you never took them to uwharrie. :-) ill put it like this...my .45 was in its full holster under the seat. when i stripped it down i found uwharrie dust on the buffer spring.
yeah, the dash light went out yesterday.
see
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No no no, I meant "that's whacked" as in "how bizarre that only pressure washing the interior could possibly cause sputtering". Not saying it was whacked that you *only* did the interior hehehe.
Dave
heh.....my bad. i see what you mean now. yeah, i found it odd too. i have a computer on my tranny hump but assumed thats for the tranny.
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