[pigbuggy]

went out on the trail yesterday with a friend. car was a little dirty so i decided to wash it when i got home. i did so, doing a pretty through job with the pressure washer. got in the wheel wells, trailer hitch, roof, and then tackled the underside. finished, cleaned up, went to a friends house and back with no problems.

next morning, I start it up, back out, and head for class. the first mile or so, its was just like any other day driving to school, but after that, i was honestly very perplexed and kind of worried.

i came to a stop sign and started accelerating, (not hard, just nice, easy, and gentle-- no rush.) and as soon as i did, i got terrible shakes coming from what seemed like the mid section of the car around where the tranny is. i let off the accelerator and the rumble stopped. so i started accelerating again; same thing. rumbling stopped for maybe a second or two before it shifted into 2nd gear, and when the rpm needle dropped, the shakes came back.

came home for lunch (right now) and everything is exactly the same, no improvement. the only things i have now noticed is that when i absolutely punch on the accelerator doing 30 or so, and it pops into 1st or 2nd, during that massive acceleration, there aren't any shakes. i also rolled down the window to see if i could hear anything, and the only thing that sounds weird is the 'whirring' noise coming from the exhaust (the one described as the false turbo) yea, that, it makes a fluttering noise with each shake.

i was also idling at a stop sign for 20 seconds, and even though the rpms didn't drop, i still got intermittent shakes.

confused.

honestly, the only thing i can even think of, is when i was pressure washing it, i turned around to fumble with the hose, and water shot up the tail pipe. i wasnt at an angle to where it shot straight up the pipe, but I'm pretty sure i got a little in there.

[Doc]

Did you pressure wash the engine bay too?

[pigbuggy]

i didn't open up the hood and pressure wash inside. i did underneath the engine, like the axle, tie rods, and the front springs, but i didn't stick the gun directly up underneath and wash the engine.

[CJF]

Originally Posted by pigbuggy

the only thing i can even think of, is when i was pressure washing it, i turned around to fumble with the hose, and water shot up the tail pipe. i wasnt at an angle to where it shot straight up the pipe, but I'm pretty sure i got a little in there.

Very unlikely that that could have hurt anything.

You don't seem sure whether it's an engine issue or a drivetrain (tranny etc) issue. You really need to determine that (ie, does it do it in neutral?, etc) before we/you can proceed.

Keep in mind that it may have been caused by the washing, or it may have been caused by the wheeling (such as something getting knocked loose), or neither.

Curtis

[concretejungle]

Have you received a check engine light?

Sounds like what happened to me when some water got down one of the spark plug seals and was causing one of the plugs to missfire.

Pop the hood open, pull the spark plugs out and spray some air down each tube, let dry and reassemble.

[pigbuggy]

check engine light has been on for a week or 2 because I'm running a little lean. probably a good time to clear that, and see if i can get a reading from an OBD II.

shakes a little while idling. took of the air filter and hose, cleaned that out but nothing happened. in neutral, when you hit the accelerator, it shakes, but not nearly as bad as when I'm driving it down the road.

could that rule out the drive train?

[ERG80]

I think concretejungle might be right. When I got mine it had the same symptoms. They had washed it the night before and It was water in the spark plugs. I got a new set of spark plugs out of the deal.

ERG80

[NorCalDoug]

I had something similar happen when I had my 94. I had water on the plugs...which cause the engine to fire on 4 of 6 cylinders.

check your plugs/wires.

[pigbuggy]

i put in dry fuel. (oxymoron if i've ever heard one...) should that not have taken out any moisture in the engine? or is it one of those things that you might as well check before you go have a dealer rip everything apart, take away your lc for a couple of weeks, and charge you your arm, leg, and first born for poking their heads around inside?

[ERG80]

I'd check if possible. If you dont see anything then take the pigbuggy in and get raped by the dealer to find out what it is.

Erg80

p.s. Great color and year.

[JimmyK]

I had the same problem when I went mudding.. not sure why I went mudding some stupid reason with some jeep friends... Ill never go mudding again... rather useless.. anyways moving on...

after I went through some 2+ feet of mudd/water same problem happened thought it was my tranny or exhaust.. underside looked okay nothing hanging down.. popped the hood let her run for 3-5 minutes and it went away.... scared me senseless though.. I thought it was water in the distributor cap but could have been plugs as well....

[NorCalDoug]

Originally Posted by pigbuggy

i put in dry fuel. (oxymoron if i've ever heard one...) should that not have taken out any moisture in the engine? or is it one of those things that you might as well check before you go have a dealer rip everything apart, take away your lc for a couple of weeks, and charge you your arm, leg, and first born for poking their heads around inside?

did you remove your plug wires (one at a time) and check for water?

[CJF]

Originally Posted by NorCalDoug

did you remove your plug wires (one at a time) and check for water?

Looking back at his posts, I don't think he's even popped the hood.

[pigbuggy]

Originally Posted by CJF

Looking back at his posts, I don't think he's even popped the hood.

of course I've popped the hood. it would be pretty hard to determine what the problem with the engine is if you aren't looking at it now wouldn't it?

ill try the spark plugs, but once it gets up to the high revs in the gears, it runs fine. it will to 60 with no problem. its just in the low revs, it really struggles and shakes.

could it still be the spark plugs?

[pigbuggy]

im not really convinced its the spark plugs. haven't checked to see, but could it be the O2 sensors, or the fuel injectors? i could see one of those being the problem as to why it is struggling in low gears, but i cant understand why it shakes so badly. if there is water in the distributer cap then the cylinders could be firing at weird times and the engine could be out of balance. or maybe clogged fuel injectors? then again, it could be a spark plug not firing in a cylinder. aw crap. ill just go check.

[NorCalDoug]

a misfiring engine will make the entire rig shake like crazy...it's happened to me...


just pull the plug wires, one at a time and check for water intrusion...
if it all looks nice and dry, move on to the next theory...



I don't recall seeing if you stated that your MIL is lit...


is it?

[concretejungle]

Originally Posted by pigbuggy

im not really convinced its the spark plugs. haven't checked to see,

Why are you having such a hard time pulling the plugs out? Stop adding dry fuel, looking at the tranny, thinking and just pull the plugs out.

Let them air dry or spray compressed air down the plug tubes.

Then check back and let us know.

[tomatopants]

I did that once after going mudding after heavy rain, and it turns out I just got the distributer cap soaked, so twasn't working right.

WD-40 fixed that up after a few hours.


I haven't driven through the mud the same way since....

[pigbuggy]

okay, so i finlly stopped stalling, checking, proding, guessing, and loading in additives. checked the throttle body, cleaned that up, checked the distributor cap, monkied, and listened for the tone of the engine, and that helped for a run to the parts store, but not on the way back. and my reason for actually going to the parts store (not counting on the fact that i already had it fixed) was my saving grace. i had to go with my better judgement and listen to Mud. as it was, i finally took a little time and took out and replaced each spark plug. the originals weren't wet or anything but looked like crap. i replaced them anyways, figuring it couldn't hut. thanks to everyone who actually knew what they were talking about because that is what did the trick.

“A good listener tries to understand what the other person is saying. In the end he may disagree sharply, but because he disagrees, he wants to know exactly what it is he is disagreeing with.”

-Kenneth A. Wells

Don't know who he is, but God, what a quote.

[NorCalDoug]

fixed?


cool