I know there are a lot of people who say you should never wash the engine because of the opti and water issues. Also, there are lots of people that just can't resist but to wash the engine (me being on of these). Anyway, I'm always careful about not wattering around the opti too much. So, I cleaned the engine last week getting the car ready for summer. Put the insurance back on it, and took the car out Saturday. And yes, got the check engine light right from the start, but since the car was running good, I figured I'd check the codes later. About 100 miles of driving, and the car started to die out when idle. Thought it was the old gas, filled up with some fresh fuel and barely made it home. Hooked up the laptop, and I got bot P1351 and P1361 codes. Looking at everything on the net about the codes suggested that it's the opti. Since I really, really, really didn't want to take the opti out, I did some more thinking. Finally I looked at the ignition coil, pulled the plug for it and noticed that there was some water inside the connector. I cleaned and dried the coil connector, put it back in, and drove the car all day yesterday with no check engine lights, and the car ran perfect. So, if anyone washes their engine, gets the codes, and is about ready to replace the opti, might want to check the coil connector first for water. It's free to check and much, much less work.

 

A little Simple Green on a rag goes a long, long way....

 

 

Thanks for the info

 

Out of the many times I've washed my engine, the coil plug you mentioned is the only problem I've ever had. And that was only one time and for the same reason. Once dry it was fine. It makes you wonder how many optis may have been replaced needlessly for this reason.

 

Where is the coil plug located so I can watch out for it?

Thanks

 

Front of the RH cylinder head. It's bolted to a bracket in combination with the coil module.

 

That's exactly why I posted this. I was about to start taking everything apart before I looked at this. I probably would have replaced the opti, by that time the plug would dry out, and I would have been sure that the opti was bad.

 

Thank you.

 

No worry anymore with the new MSD distributor installed. It is sealed.

 

I too can't resist washing the engine. So I bought the gallon jug of Simple Green and put it a pump up 2 gallon garden sprayer. Works great !!! Pump it up slightly for the original soaking, pump the crap out of it for high pressure blast off. It's easy to control, the long handle/nozzle gets to the hard to reach places. Then fill it with water for the rinse off. Heck, then pump it up and air blast the water off.