Happy Thanksgiving, coupsters! And a small (big) discover yesterday - cure for non-start after carwashing

[E9Wayne]

Well guys, after several years of washing my coupe and intermittently experiencing a failure to start afterwards I finally figured out the problem yesterday. Although I try to be careful washing/hosing around the grill area, yesterday I had the same problem again - cranking but no startup after the wash and dry. In previous cases, as recently as Sharkfest in Atlanta this last April, 30 minutes or more sitting in my driveway and drying out cures the problem, but this time I had to try and figure this annoying (and sometimes embarrasing) problem out. After seeing no water near the coil, distributor, etc. I removed the intake air hose and ducting to my intake plenum. Sure as heck, there was some water inside the intake flexi plastic pipe and some remnants further upstream in the intake track. What the heck!

So even without actively pointing the water hose near the intake, upon startup the intake vacuum must be sucking in some small amounts of water from the grill slats that leads to the non-start (cranking, fuel, but no apparent spark, or that's what it sounds like).

After drying out the components I had removed and reinstalling, she fired right up.

I feel a little stupid but relieved to have finally figured this out and will have to better ensure no water is near the intake hose in the future, or block off the entrance to that pipe with a towel.

Happy Thanksgiving all!

 

[rsporsche]

naaah, no reason to feel stupid, we are talking about a 50 year old car that was based on even older engineering. time to check all of the little things for tiny cracks in hoses + wiring

 

[boonies]

When I had my coupe apart last winter I found a number of small cracks in the wiring insulation. It seemed that it was mostly in areas where the wire was otherwise uncovered (not wrapped).