Hey guys,

First post on here, so first off, hi everyone and thank you for taking the time to read my post!

Basically, as the title suggests, i Waterblasted/Powerwashed my 2003 Ford Escape's engine. I covered up the battery and a couple of electrical components, but straight after washing it, i went to start it, and it started shaking quite violently and misfiring!

I turned my car off and left it in the warm early spring sun for several hours with the bonnet up to try and dry the engine off. It didn't really help to much, so later that day, i took it for a short drive and although it was still vibrating, it wasn't as bad, so rightly or wrongly, i decided to go for a longer drive since it seemed to be slowly improving. The drive lasted just over an hour, and it was all hot driving, at highway speeds, and over that hour it improved dramatically but it was still vibrating and hesitating when accelerating, both at slow speeds but more so between 70-100 km/h. Once i got to the NZ legal speed limit (100km/h), and just cruised, it seemed fine, but it was the acceleration that was the problem.

I thought it might have been water in the Spark Plugs so this weekend i pulled out the Coils, and checked out the Plugs. Sure enough, Coil number 5 i believe it is, or the middle one in the front row, had a small amount of water pooled up down in the bottom of the well/shaft! Bingo! I had found the issue.

I decided to check the other coils, there was no water in any of the others but a little bit of dirt in a couple of them. I gave them all a blow out with compressed air, and sprayed a bit of WD-40 in the wells just to be sure, and once i got them properly cleaned out and dry, i checked the Spark Plugs. They were the original Motorcraft Platinum Spark Plugs, so i decided to replace all 6 Spark Plugs since my car had done 130,000 and they looked a little worn out. I didn't change the Coil packs, since they actually didn't look too old, and they are very expensive so i was hoping they would be ok! After that was all done, i got the engine all back together and took her for a drive. Several minutes down the road and all seemed good, it was driving smooth, with absolutely no vibration or misfiring!

But then, after turning around to come back, with a smile on my face thinking i had fixed her, i put my foot to the floor to see how it acted under hard acceleration... It seemed fine, until it got to about 4,000 rpm and 40-50 km/h or there about, and i think second gear, and it hesitated really badly, and it seemed like it lost half it's power!

So, here i am...

Can anyone help me out with some suggestions on what could be the problem? Any help will be greatly appreciated!!!

 

Some engines have a built in REV limiter, does it do the same thing in any other gear when under the 4000 RPM limit?

 

I think you now know that pressure washers and modern engines full of electrical sensors and components don't get along.

Your post wash driving has dried out what water may have remained for the most part but either "some" moisture is corrupting a particular plug or part...or possibly has caused it to become compromised appears to be the case

Have you scanned for any codes?

 

Thanks for the responses, i have got it sorted now. I cleaned out all the coils and changed the spark plugs, and that pretty much fixed it, although after doing that there was still a bit of hesitation at high revs, but it seems to have come right now. No more power washing for me lol. Cheers guys!