Car won't start after trying to wash/paint engine, I washed and painted my engine on Thrusaday and car hasn't started Options

[Will_LT]

So basically the topic title explains my issue. Last Thrusday I sprayed my engine with an engine degreaser named Engine Bright. I made sure to cover the alrternator, distributor, battery, and any other wiring i could see, with plastic bags when i did it, then afterwards i dried off the engine and sprayed painted it. I decided not to drive the car to work that day to allow the paint to dry, but the following day was unable to start the car. when i turn the key, i hear the cranking sound, but it just doesn't start. I checked the spark plugs and they were initially wet, so i dried them but nothing. I then tried buying new ones but no luck. Through advice of some people, I've also checked the air filter and nothing appears wrong there and i also removed the distibutor cap to see if any water was there, but everything appears to be ok there as well. Bascially, what I want to know is if there's any other thing i might want to check out before i tow it over to a mechanic to have it checked out. I know my initial mistake was undertaking the task of trying to clean the engine with not knowing much about it, but i thought i had done my research and now i just wish i had left it alone.

[playr158]

have you tried to jump start it with another car?

[Will_LT]

have you tried to jump start it with another car?

oh yea..i forgot to mention that i also tried that..

[Slick]

did you check the spark plug chambers? I washed the engine once and i had water in the chamber. i had to get them completely dry before the car was start.

[Will_LT]

did you check the spark plug chambers? I washed the engine once and i had water in the chamber. i had to get them completely dry before the car was start.

yea, actually there was some liquid in there..i think it might've actually have been some of the engine degreaser that i used, and i tried drying it all out, but its been almost 6 days..how long would it normally take to completely dry?

[Dragondog]

will the starter crank at all or does it just click...you mite want to check the starter make sure no curosion on it and wires connected clean. and check to see if its in park if not well there you go if so put it in nutrul and try starting it

[RCTCelica]

this is just a suggestion, go to a auto parts store and buy a can of wire dryer (looks like a can of wd40). spray it on the places that you think may have gotten wet.

[vsideboy]

same as everyone else really, when you say you checked the dizzy cap, have you checked the rotor is in good condition (might not be related to the cleaning process but could just be a fluke its broken enough at the same time)

Take each ht lead off and check it / dry the contacts (do it 1 at a time and replace before taking off the rest so you dont get mixed up)

Is the starter turning the engine but its not firing or is the starter just clicking? If it is just clicking then its not getting enough power to the starter motor so either your batterys gone flat or the wires connected to the starter need removing and cleaning.

Also remove the cables on the battery terminals, on my old car it used to get some thick white salty substance surrounding the -ve terminal that eventually prevented it starting.

Take the fuse box covers off and make sure its dry inside there too.

After you've done all that, let us know if your still having problems and I'll have another think.

[Dragondog]

agree with vside but as well like i said also check if your in p if so try starting it in N never try to start in D or any other gear cus it just wont start it will give a clicking sound like batt is dead....another auto i had did that it just stoped starting when it was in park so i put it in N and started right up...and the reason why my car did this was the wire conected to the break peddle came off and it was some how afilliated with starting it in park.......do your brake lights come on?......stero work? head lights along with hight beams? be sure no to run batt down......then youll think you have more prb then you actualy have.


even if you get some pwr from batt doesnt mean you batt is charged enough...it mite not be getting a good connection for a car start but may still run acc..........and if all fails you may just have to pull the starter may be bad....and when you said 6 days for drying does that mean you took the spark wires off for drying or left them connecdtd.........should get a volt meter and check ur batts volts should be from 11 to 12.....9 to 10 should be enough to start to but will have a sick start

[ILuvMyCelica95]

i dried off the engine and sprayed painted it.

can i ask what exactly did you spray paint?

do the lights and accessories and everything turn on? If so are you getting a check engine light?

[Will_LT]

will the starter crank at all or does it just click...you mite want to check the starter make sure no curosion on it and wires connected clean. and check to see if its in park if not well there you go if so put it in nutrul and try starting it

It does crank and it sounds as if its about to turn on but then it just doesnt, even though the amount it cranks appears to have been getting weaker over these last couple of days. And it was in park when i tried turning it on, but i tried turning it on while in neutral today but same result

this is just a suggestion, go to a auto parts store and buy a can of wire dryer (looks like a can of wd40). spray it on the places that you think may have gotten wet.

I'll go to the autoparts store tomorrow and try looking for that

same as everyone else really, when you say you checked the dizzy cap, have you checked the rotor is in good condition (might not be related to the cleaning process but could just be a fluke its broken enough at the same time)

Take each ht lead off and check it / dry the contacts (do it 1 at a time and replace before taking off the rest so you dont get mixed up)

Is the starter turning the engine but its not firing or is the starter just clicking? If it is just clicking then its not getting enough power to the starter motor so either your batterys gone flat or the wires connected to the starter need removing and cleaning.

Also remove the cables on the battery terminals, on my old car it used to get some thick white salty substance surrounding the -ve terminal that eventually prevented it starting.

Take the fuse box covers off and make sure its dry inside there too.

After you've done all that, let us know if your still having problems and I'll have another think.

by the rotor, do you mean the black box that turns when you try to turn the car on? i'm not too familiar with all the terminology,sorry. But if that is what your referring to, yea it does turn. and what are is an 'ht lead.'

I'll also try removing the cables on the battery, but that doesn't seem to be the problem though i'm getting worried that with all this time of not turning on the car, the battery might be getting weaker

I checked inside the fuse box and everything is dry there.

agree with vside but as well like i said also check if your in p if so try starting it in N never try to start in D or any other gear cus it just wont start it will give a clicking sound like batt is dead....another auto i had did that it just stoped starting when it was in park so i put it in N and started right up...and the reason why my car did this was the wire conected to the break peddle came off and it was some how afilliated with starting it in park.......do your brake lights come on?......stero work? head lights along with hight beams? be sure no to run batt down......then youll think you have more prb then you actualy have.


even if you get some pwr from batt doesnt mean you batt is charged enough...it mite not be getting a good connection for a car start but may still run acc..........and if all fails you may just have to pull the starter may be bad....and when you said 6 days for drying does that mean you took the spark wires off for drying or left them connecdtd.........should get a volt meter and check ur batts volts should be from 11 to 12.....9 to 10 should be enough to start to but will have a sick start

i actaully hadn't noticed whether the break lights came on or not, i'm actually at work now until 4a.m. so i'll have to check it out tomorrow along with the other things you mentioned. But if the battery isn't charged enough, would it have been able to have started through a jump start?

i dried off the engine and sprayed painted it.

can i ask what exactly did you spray paint?

do the lights and accessories and everything turn on? If so are you getting a check engine light?

I spray painted the engine to make it look like this one that i saw on the site, except i did blue for my engine


When i start the car, the engine light does come on, but for as far i can remember, it's always come on until i'd actually start the car, then the light would turn off.


Thank you so much for all your replies everyone.

[Dragondog]

could just be wires or paint leaked into distrebuter cap what you should do is get these parts always good the have a spark tester it plugs to ur spark wire the conects to ur spark plug then crank and see if it lights up,,,as well as a vault meter for testing ur batt

[vsideboy]

sorry buddy, the HT leads are the 4 cables that connect the distributor to the spark plugs, also what connects the coil to the centre of the distributor cap.

Like I say, remove them all and make sure they are dry at both ends (1 at a time so replacment doesn't get confusing)

your battery will be getting weaker the more time you try to start it, although it will need to drain down alot before it wouldn't jump start (well it would jump start but if your batt didn't have enough then once you disconnect the jump leads it would struggle to keep running)

when you remove the distributor cap, the rotor arm is the small piece inside than rotates and touches each of the 4 connections inside the distributor cap. Make sure the metal on the rotor arm is clean and that the 4 connections on the inside of the distributor cap are also clean. If it looks badly corroded or borken then you might need to replace the rotor arm. Not sure on celicas but they usually just pull off and are pretty cheap.

struggling to think of anything else, unless you've accidentally knocked a cable off something but can't think what.

[ILuvMyCelica95]

For future reference you should have just taken the valve cover off if all you wanted to do is paint it... I wouldn't have painted it while it's still on the car... as you can see in that pic there is some over spray and the right corner didn't get painted.
I would have taken it off cleaned it, sanded it and then painted.

as far as the engine light i just thought maybe you were getting a code but if you cant actually start the car then idk.

Maybe look for overspray and see if it got somewhere it shouldnt be.


1. more thing- the next time you clean your bay I would cover the electrical parts in aluminum foil and then a plastic bag. Aluminum foil will mold to the shape of the parts you are covering and it wont let the water get in.

when you took the bags off of everything did you notice water in any of the bags?

also- can you take a picture of what your bay looks like now and maybe tell us what you covered? Maybe you missed something that got wet.
I'm not trying to be an ass or anything i'm just letting you know.

[bindertch]

Check the grounds on your engine and the plugs that go to the distrubutor. Also just do a check of all exposed connections and make sure nothing got wet. If you pressure washed it this can happen pretty easily.

[devilsden97]

i want to see photos of your engine bay...after painting.

without honestly seeing where paint went, its hard to give u REAL good suggestions on how to solve your problem.

[Will_LT]

For future reference you should have just taken the valve cover off if all you wanted to do is paint it... I wouldn't have painted it while it's still on the car... as you can see in that pic there is some over spray and the right corner didn't get painted.
I would have taken it off cleaned it, sanded it and then painted.

as far as the engine light i just thought maybe you were getting a code but if you cant actually start the car then idk.

Maybe look for overspray and see if it got somewhere it shouldnt be.


1. more thing- the next time you clean your bay I would cover the electrical parts in aluminum foil and then a plastic bag. Aluminum foil will mold to the shape of the parts you are covering and it wont let the water get in.

when you took the bags off of everything did you notice water in any of the bags?

also- can you take a picture of what your bay looks like now and maybe tell us what you covered? Maybe you missed something that got wet.
I'm not trying to be an ass or anything i'm just letting you know.

Sorry for taking so long to post up the pics guys, I was able to get a mechaninc to come take a look at the car and it turns out that I needed to replace the ignition coil. Got that done on Wed and couldn't have been at a better time, because my projectors came in the same day (sorry about the last part going off topic)

[vsideboy]

well, glad you got it sorted dude.