pgh_medic,

The last time this happened to a vehicle of mine, I had gotten water in the coil pack/ spark plug wire- plug ins. It didn't seem possible but I did. I Unplugged them (I made a simple chart to show which plug wire went to which plug in first), used a blowdryer on the male and female parts and no more problem.
However, it could be several different plug ins.


I realized, after I calmed down, where I was standing in relation to the engine, when I jetted the water hose at the engine. If you stood in primarily one position, go back to that position and look at what electrical connectors would have gotten a "full" blast of the water hose. Concentrate your airblower on those areas first. I know this sounds simple, however, that approach worked for me. Also, when you did start the truck up. How long did you let it idle?

 

Take it in somewhere or go buy yourself a code reader and find out what code the computer is throwing. I could be wrong, but you may have gotten water into the Throttle Position Sensor, I have had it happen and your situation sounds similar. Hope this helps, good luck and let us know how it turns out.

 

Sorry...forgot one other thing. If it does happen to be the TPS you are better off just replacing it rather than trying to dry it out.

 

washing your engine where water shouldn't have been may have
short circuit some electrical system it may be one of your solenoid
that operate your vacuum advance. check all fuse it maybe just
a blow fuse. This happen to my bro vehicle it running like crap
after he also clean is vehicle. After i look it over found it was just a
blow fuse. I hope this helps

 

I have one other thought, after the dealer did my last major tune up my 5.4 did the same thing more or less and it turned out that the MAF sensor was unplugged (they had never plugged it back in) Check all you plugs around the air intake and especially under it and make sure they are all plugged in.

 

Sounds much like a vacumm leak...
Turn on the beast and get some WD-40 and spray all your vacumm lines...including the rubber ends on the lines(those wear out alot) if you notice your idle go up you have a vacumm leak on one of those lines.

 

Isn't there a simple test for determining the computer error code in the newer digital dash trucks?

I know it works in the newer mustangs.

These pages may be useful:
http://www.batauto.com/Ford.html

http://www.mustangworld.com/ourpics/fcar/dtcodes.htm

 

Good idea p_ferlow but that will not work. That will not pick up the OBDII codes he needs to check that CEL. I am not positive on this but I thought the 00 model still had just the two coil pack system. It was 01 when the 4.6 went to the COP design. I would say you are going to have to pull each plug wire and use the blow dryer on every hole and wire. Afterwards use dielectric grease on each plug wire and try it again. If it continues to miss you will need to probably replace some or all plugs (because of arcing), wires, coil packs, or even all the above.

 

Sorry KYFordFreak, I was in a bit of a hurry this morning and just smacked up that post without reading into the information enough.

You'd think the Ford engineers would add that feature to the new digital instrument clusters. Wouldn't that be nice eh?

 

I used to work at a Lexus dealership detailing cars and we used to wash engines/engine compartments with a pressure washer type deal. It wasn't techinically a pressure washer but it made a lot of mist and sprayed pretty hard. We always left the engines running so they'd dry out fast and nothing would get ruined.

My guess is that you got water in the spark plugs or other electrical system. Did you spray, or get water on the relay box? If so, maybe a fuse got wet and is starting to go bad.

 

well my truck is STILL running like you know what, even after i dried it, blew it, sucked it, lol, you know i tried and tried, but to no avail! So i took it in to have the driver side mirror fixed (under warranty) and said "oh by the way, my truck runs like crap and the check ewngine light is on, would you mind checking that?" they were really cool about it, i knew there was a reason i gave them $29,000.00 so i will get back when my baby is home again, i hope soon! BUT, in conclusion THANK YOU ALL very much for all the assistance you provided, i love this site!

 

Let us know what the dealer finds out.

 

Anyone who said the coil pack (s) were screwed up, give yourself a greasy handed pat on the back, you were right on the money! So, i take my truck in for deale service, to have the driver side mirror replaced, and then dump all these new problems on them. They are cool about it, and say it might not get done till tomorrow though, hey no problem, just glad they werent pissed. So, i get a phone call from the dealer (when i saw my caller ID, i got pretty scared, was wondering if they were gonna ask me what color my 2002 should be because my truck is dead!) and they tell me it is DONE! YAY! So, after all it was the #2 coil pack, pretty suseptoble to H20 due to its location, so it fugures, replaced it and it runs like new, all under warranty. So all is good now and i am happy! Once again THANKS TO ALL WHO HELPED! i really appreciate all who replied, thanks! See you on the forums!

medic <-----happy again!

 

Those darn coil packs. Guess I've been lucky so far.... knock on wood.

 

Yeah, i have to come up with a new system to wash my engine, maybe Intel has some ideas, he seems to be the detail guru, but it's clean now and i plan on keeping it that way, atleast till old ma winter strikes again! stay safe all!