Sharky

I have to share my stupidity with the world:

After neglecting my motor's hygene for quite some time...
I decided it was time to give her a bath. I covered the alternator and wrapped the intake filter in a plastic bag.
I proceeded to do my thing, then used a leaf blower to get all the water out of the nooks and crannys.
Happy that she was clean and as dry as she'd get without running her; i cranked her up.
Well my pony ran for a few seconds and died. Not the end of the world!
I cranked her again and she died again??
Getting frustrated I decided to give her a long, hard cranking. (I figured I might have gotten some excess water somewhere it wasn't supposed to be but as she was compliant for a few seconds each time she just needed some urging).
All this to no avail.

Well my next step was to get out and look under the hood to see what I screwed up.
Popped the hood, guess what I saw:

I forgot to remove the bag from the intake.
My filter had crushed down to 1/3 it's original size.
dum, dum, dum, dum, ddduuummmmm!

After removing the filter, I was able to push it back out from the inside; it now resembles the filter on a Salvador Dali edition GT. It is however still "air tight" and will stay on my car till I dig up another $40.

We live, we learn.

jayguy

Hate to admit it, but I did the exact same thing a couple years ago. Had a Tacoma S-Runner I was cleaning up to sell (I had just picked up the first Mustang), and bagged the K&N on the truck. Ran a couple of seconds, then died. I didn't do the long crank like you did, so my filter was just dented, but I bought a new one for the kid I sold it to anyway.

You are not alone.

70MACH1OWNER

Thanks for sharing that with up Darral. It takes big ones to laugh at oneself. I can assure you that we all do things like that but most of us will keep it to ourselves. No harm done other than a small bruise to your ego.
Scott

Ranger

Would have to put myself in the "been there - done that" category. At my age I find myself having more "dumb butt" attacks.

runningwild4.6

Agreed, We live and learn from our mistakes. Sometimes we just get excited or in a hurry. We can always look back and laugh.

No harm no foul!

mrkabc

Glenn

to much cranking will put unburned fuel into your oil. So I have heard. I don't know how true it is.

Arrow

Heh. Nice goin'! Can't say I haven't done my fair share of dum...just DUM stuff to my baby.

BTW, I want a Salvador Dali edition Mustang. That'd be awesome! Forget suspension! This baby melts around corners so fast you'll go to pieces!

8905GT

Wow! some things are better left unsaid.

RedDragon777

hey i hate to hijack the thread but how did you clean your motor, did you just use a garden hose with low pressure ( no nozzle or finger infront of opening) or did you use a high pressure nozzle

MustangRetribution

I do stupid stuff all the time.

281GT

With a carburetor yes. In the days of carburetors most people would pump the gas when it wouldn't start. With each movement of the gas pedal the accelerator pump would dump more gas down the intake weather the engine would was running or not, usually resulting in a flooded engine. This excessive fuel washed the layer of ptotective oil off the cylinder wall and caused a lot of engine wear. It also would go past the rings and contaminate the oil.

Modern fuel injection systems don't do this. I this particular case the engine management system would have been able to detect the absence of intake air that the plastic bag created and most likely would have put less fuel in so no harm done except for a damaged air filter and a bruised ego.

tom281

I do stupid stuff all the time.

StangMahn

On the old carbed cars, just pump the gas a few times, before cranking. As for the filter, you're not the only one, my neighbor did it twice...in the same day. Are the alternator and intake the only things that need covering?

don_w

Yea... the smart ones keep quiet.



I'm glad I've outgrown that phase.

SixtySix

IMO, neither one needs covering. Just don't go spraying water directly on or up your airfilter/intake tube and you're ok.

Let us not forget people that engine compartments are fully exposed to the elements. We drive them in the rain. Alternators, junction boxes and all those elecrical connections are made with that in mind.

I don't and never will cover anything in the engine compartment, and I'll never have a problem becasue of it. I never have yet.

Stoenr

Either you're late at posting this over here, or someone somewhere else did the same exact thing a few months ago.

Haha, I found it. Dont feel so bad
It includes the pics for ya mrkabc
http://www.allfordmustangs.com/forum...-done-yet.html

mrkabc

Ah, pix at last.. I am now a happy man!!

Unrelated thought: That Steeda shroud sure looks a lot better than my C&L one does! I wonder if Tillman will ever make those shrouds he promised us nine months ago...

SONICBOOST

So when cleaning the engine all you have to do is cover the alternator and intake. I am so over do for an engine cleaning.

Adam

fizdc

With a cold engine (open loop) wouldn't the injectors just keep spraying fuel, air or no air?