so i took my car to get it washed this morning and had them degrease/detail the engine (something thats been done by them twice before) and apparantly they had trouble with the sprayer and were not able to get a lot of the degreaser off the car (they refunded me the engine detail price)

well on the way home the car started misfiring really bad, the SES light came on, and as i pulled off into a gas station the car stalled and would not restart..

my only guess is the opti got some crap on it and it didnt rinse off...

the engine smoked pretty good as it burned off the leftover degeraser and after it sat for about 10 minutes it started up, slightly misfiring with the SES on (i spent a few minuites cranking it and when it wouldnt fire, i just let it sit for awhile)... i decided to drive it home.. about 10 miles

halfway home the car stopped misfiring and i pulled off into a church and stopped the motor and restarted it and it fired right up and the SES light was gone..

did i have an "oh **** i got my opti wet" experience?

luckily its fine now but damn i was afraid i had busted the opti..

i finished cleaning the engine off with some water, QD and a rag, so i dont think im gonna use the $16.95 credit they gave me for another engine detail, i'll just get the car buffed/waxed next week instead like i had already planned (schedulued it today for monday)

 

THe mistake they and u made was washing, degreasing the engine. Never let another detail shop touch your motor unless they know LT1's and about opti's.
You got lucky, hopefully nothing will go wrong in the next week or so.

 

i didnt think anything of it since this same place has done it twice before w/o any problems

 

every time i start my car...

 

is that like the old hollywood squares game?

you got a 1 in 6 chance the car will start

j/k

or maybe starting the car is like the automotive version of russian roulette? LOL

 

I had the same exact thing happen once driving in a very heavy rainstorm.

 

i may not be a mechanic, but i detailed for about 4 years, anytime you "wash" under the hood you risk any electrical connection. after frying a customer's alternator because i didnt blow excess water out i went and bought a steam cleaner, a few cans of run of the mill degreaser, and taped off everything that could be harmed by water. spend some dough and if you want the "go" part of your car clean i'd do it yourself, because detailers dont make enough to take any precautions when THEY clean YOUR car

 

Exactly... lol

 

I was away on a romantic weekend with the wife. We took the convertible instead of our luxury car against her will. It rained one day, and I had to wash the car, and the only place in the little town was an automatic bay. I pulled in and then the under carriage wash turned on. The car died in an instant and did not start for about 5 minutes. Needless to say the wife wasn't happy. Not only did I soak the engine, the ragtop leaked and I had wet seats. The car ran like crap for about 10 minutes then cleared up. We would have been stuck, with no repairs in site. I will never do that again.

BTW I never have had a problem since then...lucky I guess.

 

ive gotten my opti wet twice once where it just started missing and the other where it would not idle on its own and was extremely hard to get started, and soon as it hit anything but neutral or park it died... 2 hours later came back outside and it fired up like it never happened.

 

No further problems with the opti or wife?

Hey, that was a great story. My wife decided years ago that she won't ride in the Camaro (the seats are uncomfortable, it is too noisey, you drive too fast...) We have three other cars and the Camaro is last on the list of romantic get away vehicles.

Back on point.

My Dynaspark has cured the "No start if a molecule of 02 touches the Optispark problem"