What do I do if water gets in my engine??

Asked by t_gamboa34 Jun 12, 2017 at 01:19 PM about the Volkswagen Beetle

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I recently washed my car maybe 2 weeks ago and as I was washing I got
water in the engine through the hood and body grills. And the last time I
washed it I did not spray directly onto it but I used a sponge to wash with
just water. After that day, it would not turn over and when I tried the engine
sounded sluggish. And I put gas into the tank and in the carburetor but the
engine wouldn't turn over. I waited about an hour and then it turned on after
struggling to keep it alive. After that wash, whenever I step on the gas and
let it go popping sounds come out of the exhaust and the engine wants to
turn off when I accelerate. What do I do to fix this? And how do I wash my
car properly?

4 Answers

Next time be careful where you spray water.

1 people found this helpful.

Seal all the plug wire boots and the distributor cap with dielectric grease which will help keep water out. If the distributor has a O ring where the cap sits, make sure it is in good shape.

1 people found this helpful.
13,600

you probably have either a cracked distributor cap, or one or more dried out cracked ignition wires

2 people found this helpful.
45,875

yep what they said. but if you did some how get water in the engine it would have mixed with the oil by this point so an oil change would be recomended other then that I would say if the water got traped in the cylinders you could try sucking it out with a vacum hose and then put fresh oil in.

1 people found this helpful.

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