car wont start after wash

[302stangGT]

ok i just got done washing my car and i decided to wash my engine as well. i covered most of the electrical parts with plastic bags and thought that it'd come out fine. however when i first tryed starting it, all i get is this "click, click, click" sound. and then my battery kinda died. i tried charging it and same thing happened...same sounds. but the bad part is when i take off jumper cables, the car doesnt even hold a charge anymore. i was told by a couple of friends just to let it dry, any ideas??

 

[stang976]

distributor cap?

 

[jerry beach]

I tried to jumpstart a car with a good battery once. Lesson learned, jumper cables are for emergency starts only, and you have to make sure the battery is dead first. Try turning on your headlights, if they burn brightly you dont want to jumpstart. If you have a volt meter you can check battery voltage after they have been on for a minute or two. It should not drop much below 11v or so. This is a primitive load test. I would check the teminal connections at the battery first, make sure they are clean and tight.

It would be safer to let it dry out before you mess with it much. Your friends are right, if water is causing the trouble it will likely go away when it dries out. Did you warm up the engine some before cleaning. The directions will usually tell you to do this. You dont want it hot, but having it a little warm will speed the drying up. Last time I cleaned my engine, it ran like crap for a few minutes afterwards. Then it fixed itself when it dried out.

 

[BlackGT89]

If you haven't done so already, take the dist. cap off and wipe everything out with a clean, dry, cotton rag (not paper towel). If you have some "wire dry" spray some of that into the cap to absorb the moisture. Let it all air out for a few minutes and then put it back together.

 

[302stangGT]

i just got off the phone with my mechanic and he said to check the starter and starter selonoid connectors making sure that there clean and dry. where would these be on a 92?

 

[mustangsquared]

Starter sol is next tot he ignition coil on the side wall of the engine bay (follow the pos bat cable to the little round black thing). There will be a single black cable on one side that goes to the starter. Clean it and dry it.

 

[302stangGT]

Starter sol is next tot he ignition coil on the side wall of the engine bay (follow the pos bat cable to the little round black thing). There will be a single black cable on one side that goes to the starter. Clean it and dry it.

hey thanx man, i did exactly what u said, and it cranked right up!!

 

[Ray III]

thats the relay not the solenoid

I tried to jumpstart a car with a good battery once. Lesson learned, jumper cables are for emergency starts only, and you have to make sure the battery is dead first. Try turning on your headlights, if they burn brightly you dont want to jumpstart.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with connecting any number of batteries with any state of charge in parallel. (some batteries cannot be safely recharged after being deep discharged though)