Engine light came on after cleaning the engine
 

This is so weird. I just got this civic si 96. I was cleaning the engine with engine degreaser and water. Now my engine light is on. It says P0135. P0135 code that keeps showing on my OBD II scanner. The book says it is a O2 sensor heater circuit malfunction on bank 1 sensor 1.


Which i know is 02 sensor. I've covered the distributor, alternator and all the ignition parts. So the O2 sensor can't touch water? Does that mean i need to change another 02 sensor because everytime i try to reset the code on my snap on scanner. It comes back on in like 30 sec. Any other way i can make the engine light go away except taking out the bulb. So that means the O2 sensor was defective or did i damage it while i was washing the engine with water. Hope someone can reply back thanx.

i love these threads....you see them every so often.
When are people going to learn?......water + engine bay usually = bad.

Just wait it out, give it a day or so, thats usually all it takes when people do this and post on here....they go outside the next day and the car runs fine, or actually starts now.

Was it worth the engine bay being prolly only slightly cleaner?

andrew...what else would you use to clean the engine if not water?

depends on what you are trying to clean....most degreasers work well and don't require water, you'll only be able to get an engine so clean before having to take drastic measures (wire wheeling, painting).
I use just a wet towel/cloth/rag as well.

i would never clean my engine bay, i did on my Jeep and ended up costing me 80 bucks, 2 sensors went bad. Its not worth it.

Because the car had too much oil leaks, That's why i cleaned up the engine in the front a little bit to see where the leak is coming from. I did try to use a cloth but it didn't work out so good. The only way was to use water.

can't you just cover up some parts like the distrobuter etc?

I completley hosed down and degreased my maxima motor before, it got it looking almost new, car ran 100% fine, just covered up my fuse boxes ofcourse ^^

on my old car I just sprayed it down and got lucky, nothing wrong. I worked at a Kia dealer, and when they cleaned engine bays they didn't cover anything. LOL Nice eh?
Some people aren't so lucky I guess

Ive pressure washed a 100 engines.. the worst that I've seen happen is just moisture build up in the cap, thats bout it.. I wouldn't hesitate to use water when cleaning an engine bay.. its not like when you drive through a huge puddle your o2 sensor won't get soaked..

just clear the code and see if it comes back.. if it does check the wiring.

driving through a puddle is unavoidable.....cleaning the engine bay however is.

Back in the day (before i knew anything about cars) i used to do detailing, and i used water under the hood of cars, and wondered why sometimes after doing so, the car wouldn't run, or ran crappy...but i didn't really care b/c they were usually lot cars.
But would i do it on my car?....not a chance.