I messed up and washed the engine compartment yesterday. Right after that, the engine started missing like a coil went out and the power steering quit working. I don't know what would get what that would affect the power steering, unless it would be a sensor for speed sensitive steering.

The check engine light has been on for a while, and after I drove it a bit, it started flashing yesterday.

Any suggestions?

 

Sorry to hear the problems. You can wash your engine area. Just be really careful and use low pressure water. Some quality time with some compressed air is the way to go. I just did my 5.4L and it looks great. Good luck with the problems.

 

You need to be carefull with water and these "COP" motors. use a little compressed air to dry around the COP's and sometimes it really helps to get some electical parts dryer to really dry them out, this will usually solve the miss, in some rare cases, the COP may arc out enough to kill the coil permanently, then its replacement time!

As far as the power steering is concerned, can you hear the belt slipping/squealing? if the power steering pump is being driven via the pump, it "should" be building pressure, however if the belt is so wet/soaped up or something, it may slip enough to keep the pump from making enough pressure to drive the steering. Just a thought.

Josh

 

The power steering belt isn't slipping. I'm going to take it to the dealer and have them tell me what's going on with it. I hate to do it, but it looks like I have to.

 

Not sure which truck you have but your post shows '97 so it's not a COP engine. I'd take an air compressor and carefully start drying things out. Hard to think the p/s is out because of water. Make sure to tell us what it was!

 

Hey , what size engine got hosed?

 

Well, just lookup "Misfire" Lots of issues same as yours - look it up in the search bar to the right - not the one at the top . That way you search this forum - Plenty of info here.

One of the very first things you need to know is your ignition system Cop or coil pack. If you have a 4.6 or a 4.2 , you have coil pacs- 5.4's it's a toss up on the 97's

 

Well, it's at the dealer and they said it needs a tune up, but the tech said it's running fine now. The power steering is out and they want to replace the PS Pump for about $695. I'm not quite sure they know what they're doing because they just called and the tech said it's now missing on 1, 3 and 5 cylinders. So they're going to tune it up for $259. (OUCH!) They also want to replace the O2 sensors for about $400+. I told them to hold off on the OS sensors and the power steering pump. The Haynes manual shows an electrical connection on the power steering pump and I bet it either blew a fuse or that connection got wet.
The pump hasn't made any noise or given me any indication it was going to go out, so I have a hard time believing that it coincidentally went out after I hosed the engine compartment.

It's a 5.4 motor by the way.

 

Unbelievable , I can't believe HOW gullible and Nieve they think people are .
A woman I could see them saying that only because woman usually don't care to know anything automotive, well, besides status quo lol
To say that to guy is pretty brave. It's not over yet - $400 ? wow , but if you don't mind farming it out - it's not that bad. COP's are 12 dollars a piece - you need 3 =$36 and plugs are about $50. More than 300 in labor.

prolly can $8 more bucks per coil for them actually , but you can get them here four $12 a piece.

I think they will try to bump up the price more on yuh . Never run water on one of these Ford motors - now you know why - don't feel bad , that's the same way I learned lol.

So far it's just 1,3,5 that are bad. There's more to come , the other will all fail most likely very soon.

Keep us posted okay.

Thanx - All 5.4's were COP'S

 

Well, it's a shame that all of this is happening on your truck. How dirty was the engine? I'm sure you're probably never going to use water on your engine, but I do and I'd suggest making sure you have plenty of air handy. I took lots of time on my 5.4 with the air compressor after to get all of the water ( low pressure from the garden hose) out of the spark plug wells. No issues. My wife has a Benz with COP as well, and no problems there either. It's just something you have to take plenty of time with.

 

i cant see water killing your power steering. its all basic hydralulics .its a sealed system.

 

It wasn't like I soaked the engine. I just sprayed the air cleaner cover, fuse box, radioator resevoir, etc. I washed them down with soapy water and rinsed them off. Obviously, this is enough to cause problems. I've done it before and the truck ran like crap but I just let it sit a while and it cleared up. I must have fried something this time.

Live and learn.

The power steering thing is what's really confusing me. No belt slippage or any noise.

 

if you have a 97 then you have coil packs . some compressed air is all u might need to dry things out. as for the steering??? no power assist at all??

 

Yeah, no power at all. I can't pull it into a parking spot without backing it up about 6 times.

 

i dont know man lol. you resevoir is full right??? do you have the stock cooler in front of the radiator? that could be clogged stopping flow. maybye a blown seal in the steering box?? just throwing out guesses here