Ok, so I'll try and explain what happened to my 94 Civic today (D15B7). The car has zero engine mods, just a catback exhaust. Today I washed my car's engine bay out and scrubbed some of the nastier areas out with some degreaser and a toothbrush. Then like an hour later I went to drive it and it's sputtering on me. I can tell mainly because of my ricey exhaust, no longer is it smooth, but it sounds like it's gagging. The car just doesn't like to accelerate; it will run smooth enough if I keep it steady at like 2300 RPM. It's just a problem when I push the throttle. Also, the car will rev all day long if I have it out of gear. It sounds great at like 5000 RPM, but only if it's in Neutral. I ended up driving it like a mile before I realized what was happening (it didn't gurgle right away), so I had to drive another mile back home. The noise seemed to get a little worse as I drove on.

I am thinking I got water into some critical part of my engine, but I dont know what part or how to fix it. At first I thought head gasket -- water in the cylinders themselves, but if my head gasket has been strong in handling oil pressure so long, why would a little water get through it? I tried to stay away from my distributor when washing, but if that were the problem, I figured the car wouldn't start at all. Or maybe it's a spark plug problem... or perhaps water in the throttle body.... I have the stock air box so I didn't get water into a cone filter or anything. I pretty much hit the whole engine bay with water, less on the distributor, so it could be anything. Any help you guys can give would be much appreciated.

 

Pull the plug wires off and check those for water. Pull the distibutor cap off and check there just on case even though you were careful. Did you use the high pressure wash?
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Washing the engine bay always seemed like a bad idea to me. I mean .... I'd rather have a dirty engine the spurgely engine. Water in the IM sounds like the problem, but you would usually know if you waterlocked your engine. Check your plug openings like Dr. Boost said. He knows his ----.

 

No, I didn't use the high pressure, just a backyard garden hose. But for what it's worth, I have used the high-pressure spray booths several times before, always without a glitch. Do you think there could be water in the ignition system that is handicapping it, but still enabling the car to limp around? I would have thought it wouldn't run at all if that were the case.

 

If you get a bunch of water in the plug shafts it will misfire like a mo fo and sputter and run rough. Check the whole electrical system under the hood.
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Ok I'll try that and be back with a report.

 

sounds like water in the dist. i wash my engine compartment all the time with a hose, never got any in the dist before. but i have on other cars. dry the dist out.

 

next time put a plastic bag over the dizzy and other sensitive parts.

 

Ohhhh yeah all fixed. There was water all up in my dizzy like neons in the Fast and Furious. I checked the spark plug wells, they were dry. I dried that sucker off and she runs like a top again! Thanx for the help, Dr. Boost!