car wont start

tgwonder20 · 10-09-2003, 01:45 PM

ok this morning i got in my car, and it wouldn't start. it wont even crank. I thought it could be the battery but , my boyfriend put his battery and it still wouldnt start or crank. I didnt have trouble with my car until one day i decide my car looked nasty under the hood, so i sprayed it with the hose. Bad idea, my boyfriend said i was suppose to leave the car running, I didn't know. Besides the battery what else could be wrong?

tony_j15 · 10-09-2003, 01:53 PM

Spark plugs maybe. Any exposed wiring could have been screwed by the water. Is it automatic or manual? Your best off talking to a pro in your area. Diagnosing car problems over the internet can be difficult.

Toadman · 10-09-2003, 02:12 PM

Did the car fail to start immediately after you hosed the engine bay or did the problem start later? Was it an ordinary garden hose or a pressure washer? Do the dashboard warning lights come on with key turned? Do you hear clicking or buzz under the hood when turning the key? What make/model/year of car? Could be numerous things. (Starter solenoid, ignitor if equipped, etc.) Sorry, but we need more info to narrow down possibilities.

The Real Bingo · 10-09-2003, 04:47 PM

Maybe if it has a distributer the water would have messed that up, but new cars these days have coils, so thats probably not the problem. It may be a fuel pump or something like that. When you turn the ignition on, listen carefully to see if you hear a faint buzzing sound. If not it may be your fuel pump.

Sweeper · 10-09-2003, 05:29 PM

if it didn't start... nor crank... sounds like the starter is bad.

Atomic Rooster · 10-09-2003, 05:30 PM

It sounds like the either starter solenoid is bad or the entire starter is shot. Some makes of cars have the starter solenoids mounted up on the fenderwell such as Ford does with theirs, making it an easy replacement.

Welcome to TechIMO!

Siliconjunkie · 10-09-2003, 05:33 PM

Toadman is on the right track. Something more fundimental is wrong than sparkplugs or distributor. Either of those would cause a crank but no start situation.

Things that jump to my mind:

1) Clutch pedal switch or Neutral Safety Switch
2) Ignition Switch
3) starter or starter solinoid
4) A wire knocked loose by the water/hose

Gomer · 10-09-2003, 06:10 PM

simple question to answer before you go any further.

Turn headlights on. Try to start car... to they go out or very dim at all?

RedFury · 10-09-2003, 08:44 PM

Beat me to it Gomer. We need to see if there is a drain on the battery first ( showing a semblance of a complete starter circuit ).

Give us the Make, Model and year of the car and it may help to narrow this down for you.

And for future reference when cleaning engine bays, high pressure=Bad. The only time I use direct high pressure when cleaning the engine compartment is if I'm trying to blast off grim from a solid surface such as the engine block ( NO ELECTRONICS ).

IF you see your headlights dim, then you know that there is something going on with the ignition/start circuit and you can most likely eliminate a bad ignition switch/connections.

Here's the thing to do....pull apart all the pull apart wiring connections under the hood and make sure there isn't any water in them shorting anything out. You can use WD40 as a water displacer, but your better off with a little compressed air.

rubyred · 10-09-2003, 11:16 PM

call a repair shop, our truck pooped out on us and after numerous attempts from friends to get it started, it was off to the shop and I do believe it turned out to be bad wiring, not fixable by the normal hand.