Car wash flooded my engine???

So i brought my 99 Cabrio to a car wash over the weekend which I guess had an undercarriage wash and as soon as i pulled out the brake pedal got rock hard and barely worked and the engine started to misfire all over the place and then it stalled and wouldn't start back up for a while. My mechanic told me it got flooded and after a few days in the sun i'd say it's about 90% back to normal, although the brake pedal is sitll a little rigid. Does this sound familiar to anybody or is there some gaping hole in the bottom of my car i need to take care of? thx

Dude-- you put your Porsche (a CAB, at that!!) through an automatic car wash?

dont do that, I never take my car through a machine wash

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... get a rope!

you need to open the front trunk take off the battery cover and look to the sides of the battery chances are you will see leaves and possibly water. it sounds like the drains are clogged and the well filled with water and filled your brake booster with water.

Seriously a car wash...WTF were you thinking? Hopefully you learned your lesson! and BTW: Drains for cabs

he should check them as well but he really needs to check the front battery tray drains

Point taken about the car wash. I'll be arranging a "punch me in the face" booth in Central Park some time soon, I'll post details. In the meantime, I checked to the left and right of the battery and there is some water there.... what exactly does this tell me and what now?

well you drains are plugged and changes are the brake booster is no filled with water your going to need to buy a new one

and how do I un-plug the drains?

Water gets down through the auto wing, and into intake and thus the probs lesson learned huh!

So did I seriously just buy a car that I can't take to a car wash??

Yes, and they should have told you that at the car wash. Unless you go to the touchless kind, where the equipment moves around the car. So when will the booth be set up?

Dude - your car cost 60-100k new - thats not the kind of auto you take to a car wash...

Just me, but I wouldn't use a touchless one, either. Touchless washes use much higher water pressure and harsher detergents to compensate for the lack of brushes. They're pretty brutal in some ways. YMMV.

car wash is fine, it would have flooded in a good rain as well

car wash is fine, it would have flooded in a good rain as well you just have to make sure the drains arent plugged

Is unplugging them something I can do myself without a lift?

It says right in the manual not to take a cab through a car wash w/the soft top up. Hard top is ok , but I still wouldn't do it. Recycled water, etc.

All you need to do if you take it to one of those washes is pay an extra $5 and tell them to wash it by hand and not send it through the wash....If you put it on the automatic track it can damage your wheels, no matter what kind of car you have, but also there are lots of sensitive things under the car in a Porsche, why chance it?

I guess I am glad I live in So Cal where the NEED for rain is soooo great..and we dont have any. I am at 28.8K and will be getting my 30K very soon. I will make sure to add this to my list of stuff to ask the mechanics to do for me. Thanks all! as for the carwash...I guess the OP got the point! ahahaha...yeah I trust carwashes likes I trust valets. But some Valets you cannot avoid...but I do avoid auto carwashes. I am lucky I guess I have two HAND WASHES at my disposal. One at work and one literally 5 mins away from home. They dont do a 100% great job...but after the wash I drive home and go over with detail spray and wheel cleaner and its pretty darn good. A machine wash has NEVER touched my car! aaaagh!!

I was about to edit my post. Yes...most places will definitely do a handwash for you. $5-$10 bucks more and they literally take a bucket and sponges and will hand wash your car. another trick is get to know one of the guys....my sis takes her car to this pretty big auto car wash..and she only goes to one guy. This dude...we OVER TIP him...and he takes an hour with the car. So when I had my Pcar one day...my sis told him I was her bro..and to hand wash my car..we paid "The Man/management" the price for a "normal" wash...and this dude...took like 2 hours to clean our cars. Him and one guy...just killed it...took forever and cleaned everything. We tipped them like $15 each. So for the price of 2 FULL washes only, no tip...we got super service and the guys were sooo happy and to this day they ask my sister..when is your brother coming back with you?

yes use your finger to clean it out what you can reach then use a garden hose with direct pressure into the drain to blow them out your still gonna need a brake booster.

Alright, I need two volunteers to go with me to gregroselli's house and CONFISCATE his car. The reason? Section 125(b)(3) of the Porsche Penal Code: Under no circumstances shall the owner take his dearly beloved Porsche to a car wash. This crime is punishable by confiscation of the victimized Porsche and its remanding to a good home where it will be properly cared for. Next thing you know, I'll be hearing that someone took his Ferrari to a car wash. Sheesh!

Brake Booster on 1999 and 2000 cars fail because water collects in them. I replaced my brake booster and my master cylinder on my 1999 car because it started sticking. There is an upgraded part with additional cover that has been fitted to later model 996 cars. I have not used a car wash since about 1964. But I do use a lot of water when I wash my cars. Hence the failure.

Greg - Exactly when will the "punch me in the face" booth in Central Park be up and running? Seriously, most of us here are very **** about our P-cars, which is why most reacted so strongly about the car wash thing. Good luck getting the drains cleaned out and also with the brake booster.

I always use an auto carwash for my 911. It is totally fine, and does a great job - way bettter than I can do. Plus its quick, unlike a lot of other rennlisters I hate washing my car - it sucks. Would much rather be driving.

+1 Come on guys, that's sick! I bring my 996 Cab frequently to the car wash and the car loves the bubble bath. Only thing is that I put a towel over my K&N CAI for the time the car is in the car wash. After all it's a car.

That's a reasonable point of view. But here's another: A lot of people who drive sports cars are more fussy about how they look, and will therefore wash them more often. If you wash your car a lot, you have to think more carefully about how. For example, the previous owner of my Land Rover took it through automatic car washes at least twice weekly. Though I didn't notice when I bought it , she managed to remove most of the clear coat in just a couple of years of driving. Automatic car washes are harsh. If you're not fussy about that stuff, then you're right. Just drive the car. But if you are, moderation or another solution might be in order.

I brought my 944 to the local car wash during winter months, to get the salt off the underside. I would worry about my rear rims getting scratched on the 996. But, how do you guys wash your cars by hand in the 35 degree temps?

I find that when the temperature is over 40 degrees (and we do get a good number of these days in the Philadelphia area during the winter), it's possible to wash the car outdoors, preferably in the sun. It's not a liesurely, quality wash, mind you, but it's a much needed wash nevertheless. And I wear latex gloves to help keep my hands warm.

I go to a do-it-yourself place (I live in a condo and have no driveway to wash in). The place I use has a pretty effective spot-free rinse option, an undercarriage washer, and these blow dryer things (no, seriously). For winter, it does a good enough job.

full service car washes are ok.... do you think porsche washes them by hand after assembly? No ,they run it through a high pressure wash bay. BTW so does Ferrari.

Here is a shot of me, washing my 944 two years ago...fun fun fun!

One reason for Greg not to use an automated wash is the plastic rear window on his '99 cab. Nothing scratches up that plastic like dragging little bits of dirt across it. (You have to be careful even with handwashing, because a dirty sponge will do the same thing.)

Sounds a little too 'fanboy' to me. I ONLY take my car through the car wash and have never had any trouble. Make no mistake, I am also crazy about my car, but life is too short to waste it washing cars...

Unless you like washing cars. It's the the thing I miss most about living in a house. Warm Saturday afternoon, cold beer and tunes, envious stares of neighbours... Each to his own, no?

Greg, since your in the city, you might want to consider driving up to Mamaroneck. Mamaroneck Auto Detailing does a great hand car wash job and it's very competitively priced (around 20-25 bucks for a 996). Indeed, they wash the cars inside their garage out of the sun and/or cold. I generally just pop by and then walk across the street for a quick coffee while they get it done, generally in less than an hour unless they're super busy (you may want to call first). I've been going there for about a decade and have always been happy.

Why not just sandblast the thing and be done with it (the water quality in those washes is bad). I would suspect you have micro marring and scratches...they show like mad on a dark/black car.

That's actually right and the one reason why I didn't get a black 996. I had 1 and only 1 black car in my life. That's enought - at least for me. It looks great (if clean) but if you're not into hand washing it every other day, then no thanks!

I also take my car to the self service wash places. I use my own soap .. and only use the high pressure rinse they have there. Its way quicker than bucket/hose washing.

+1

+2 Amazing how the beginning of the thread swings from no-car-wash to car-washers. I'm actually surprised that people here do spend the time to wash their car...considering the income poll that I saw a few months ago. I thought people making that kind of money have limited time....unless you had an early retirement or something . thanks, Amir

That statement smacks of premature generalization I enjoy washing my car...one of the few things I can do where it is obvious what I have accomplished. I can't believe people are so lazy or have such poor time management skills that they can't appropriately take care of their vehicle. Oh yeah don't ever use high pressure spray on paint. Actually I could care less what you do with your time or car...just screwing with you...since I have so much time to kill.

Chacun a son gout, I guess. I always found it therapeutic, and there was a great sense of completion and satisfaction about making it look great (completion and satisfaction being sometimes rare things in the run of a typical business day).

Actually, I'm poor. So, obviously, I have plenty of time to wash my Porsche.