Help!! Washed Engine Now Shaking!

[heatherm]

I just changed my oil in my car and went to spray off the engine at the car wash and now when I put the car in drive to drive away it starts shaking really bad but I didnt notice it when it was driving back home but when I put it back in park it did it again.

Has this happened to anyone else? Did something get shaken loose while I was washing it??

Please help!!

[iScott]

All I can say is you better hope you don't have the same problem as me. Because it's been over a year and I still haven't figured out what's wrong. Just a mysterious misfire.

Just pay close attention to the car, what it does. If it throws a CEL be sure to get it read and report back.

[Evanrude]

When I first got my '02 Beetle back in February... It ran like a top for about 2 weeks and then it started shaking horribly.

Turns out, one of the injectors gave up the ghost. Luckily it was under warranty still, (cause technically my car should be an '03)... and they replaced the injector for free.

So it's possible it's an injector issue.

P.S. If you have an Autozone or Schuck Auto Supply, they will hook up their little computer and tell you for free what the error code is.
If you get the code we can tell you what the code means

[hako]

The water you sprayed over the engine has probably penetrated into one or more of the sparkplug boots allowing high voltage leakage. Usually this will go away with time and heat....maybe a hour or so. Worst case scenario is that the high voltage leakage has burnt a carbon track on the coil or even in a plug boot though this is rare.
Good Luck.

[heatherm]

Well an update, my bf looked at my car also.

He sprayed some wd-40 on the connections to get the moisture out and let everything dry, there is no shaking anymore.

He told me even after we washed the car it only shook in drive none of the other gears. Now there is no shaking except, when I start my car and shift to drive, there is one or two jerks. Then its fine. It drives, and runs fine in any other gear 1, 2, 3, R, N, P, and even drive except for the first start and shift there is 1 or 2 jerks.

He doesnt think its the spark plug or fuel injectors since it doesnt do it in any other gear and drives perfectly fine even at wot. It only jerks on the first initial shift to drive. if I shift to park and go back to drive it wont do it. Usually just after the car sits awhile and I start it and shift the first time.

any suggestions? Connection with the tranny somewhere? He said he is going to reset the ecu.

[hako]

Many times when this occurs the short circuiting or leakage of high voltage due to moisture will leave a carbon track (as per my previous post). This may be as subtle as a pencil line down the side of a sparkplug but it will act just the same as a lightning rod does on a building.
When you select DRIVE, there is a sudden drop in revs plus a change in the fuel/air mixture inside each cylinder which can increase the voltage required to force a spark on each sparkplug and this increased voltage tries to find the point of least resistance which "may" be a carbon track on a sparkplug remaining from a previous HV leakage.
I'd be tempted to leave it.....if it gets worse then worry about it then.
Good Luck.