Helmut,

Dry out the inside of your distributor. Check that connectors didn't come
loose from the blast. Spray all your ignition wire connections and wire
connectors with WD40 to displace the water. WD40 does wonders. Tell Vana
Blanca you're sorry and you'll never do that to her again.

John Meeks
Vanagon Rescue Squad
http://www.vanagonauts.com/Vanagon_Rescue_Squad74.htm

On Fri, Dec 4, 2009 at 5:53 PM, mordo <helmut.blong@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hey, gang. Happy Friday.
>
> Recently, I changed AT oil and filter and was eager to know if I had, at
> the
> same time, fixed weeping oil filth. So, I took La Vana Blanca for an
> engine/trans/diff wash at the local self-serve carwash. I soaked it all up
> with the engine cleaning selection and then blasted it all with the
> "powerwash" device. I did all of this with the engine running under the
> premise that if I got anything sufficiently wet enough to make it shut
> down,
> it would be good to know right away. Nice, clean engine and trans, no prob,
> drove home.
>
> Long story short, I have since not been able to start the engine without
> coaxing the throttle a bit. It will not hold idle when cold. After coming
> up
> to operating temp, it will idle but at about 850 rpm and a little bit
> lumpy.
> My question of the collective experience is: what is the most likely
> component to cause this condition under the conditions described above?
> BTW,
> the engine was running very nicely prior to this folly.
>
> Cheers and thanks for any wisdom you can offer.
>
> --
> mordo
> 1990 Carat
> 2.1l WBX, AT, 171k miles
>