Washing the car and water in the engine bay..!!!

Managed to do it on Thursday. Just above freezing and had to get the salt off. Brushed most of the water down the drain to avoid the dreaded 'Ice Rink' effect... The actual reason I've posted this is to ask does everyone else get water in the engine bay when they wash their car (oh, the car, ..C4S). It goes through the spoiler slats. Is this normal? I'm quite careful so as not to flood it. Seems a bit of an iffy set up. I'm tempted next time to put a tarpaulin on top of the engine and close the lid. Anyone else found this a bit strange, or am I missing a huge piece of plastic from somewhere..?

Nothing to worry about what so ever. If there was you would not be able to drive or leave your car out in the rain. It is better to ask though, better safe than sorry. If it is any use, I spray WD40 all over my engine, especially the coils, this helps keep the engine in good order. :thumb:

Wash the car???? in winter? :hand: What's wrong with dirt? http://www.911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=40011&highlight=dirty TB

Thanks for the replies gents. Still a bit of a strange set up, if the car was outside and it chucked it down it would get pretty wet in there. I shall break out the WD40 and give it a good seeing to. And dirt... don't do dirt. My wife says it ought to be called the Porsche Wedgwood 911. The biggest ornament in the house. I think it matches my 1992 BMW R100RT Lladro which also lives under a cover. Roll on the spring ladies and gentlemen...

Washing the car! I am a newbie to this forum, but noticed this thread for reasons that will become clear. Be careful if, like me, you rinse off the car with one of those powersprays. While I was giving my 996 a rinsing off after a wash, I got round the back, and noticed that the bellows under the retractable tail spoiler (raised to give the repeater brake light its annual clean) had a split in it. :? Didn't think too much about that until the car started misfiring badly on the run afterwards to dry off the brakes. The "check engine" light (actually the emission control light) flashed while it was misfiring, and then stayed on when it stopped, once the engine load was reduced. I had to go to my friendly "local" dealer to get it turned off. "Local" in this case was 60 miles away. By the time I went there, the water I had obviously inadvertently sprayed over the engine electrics had evaporated, so it drove properly. To my amazement, the dealership (Bournemouth) didn't charge me, despite having spent 20 minutes checking out the car. Mind you, the fact I take the car to them every year for servicing may have something to do with that.

The split in the plastic under the spoiler is a common problem and a very easy (although fiddly) DIY repair. The water inside was probably on the MAF, which as you said, would dry out. The chances are that this will happen again, so you might want to look into getting this replaced at some point.

Re: Washing the car! Water in MAFS is unlikely IMO, it is a sealed unit. Coils however are pants on 996s, common fault & tend to missfire when damp. You will have P0300 (random misfire) & P030* (* will be what cyl(s) i.e P0302 is cyl 2) stored in the ECU. The fact that this happened to your car, although a pig to get to, I would remove all the coils, plaster them in silicone grease (costs about £6 for a toothpaste tube size) and put them back in. (key out of ignition whilst doing this) What has happened is water has managed to seep into the sides of the coils, silicone grease blocks and prevents this. :thumbs: Any Q's feel free to ask Lloyd

going to try this myself as my car has started running rough since all the rain on tues, seem to remember it doing it before, i took it out for an hour yest but the problem has not gone away and the engine light has come on, seem to be having nowt but bad luck at moment with my 996

silicone grease where do you put the grease,dont want to sound thick is it inside before you put back on to plugs or on outside conections or both cheers

Sounds like classic split coil packs to me... The plastic insulation cracks due to heating and cooling near the exhausts - especially if the heat shields are a bit rusty. Then as soon as you get some wet weather (especially standing water) water gets in the cracks and you get your misfire... IIRC about £200 total to get an Indie to change the lot.