Car wants to stall after car wash

I recently did a thorough car wash with lots of undercarriage splash. The engine stalled during the wash and it's been running a bit rough since. It also seem to want to stall every time I stop for a red light. Any ideas what could be causing this?

water/condensation under the distributor cap is where I'd start.

Moisture, water, on the inside of the distributor cap.

Never mind.
Someone else beat me to the keyboard, for an answer.

could also be 'leaky' plug wires but the cap would be my first choice

Cap and wires would be first choices. Another would be the highly power feed wires.

Specifically the bulkhead connector and the fusible link connections near the fender relay. I have seen water put a marginal connection in trouble. To test, turn lights and heater on and feel (carefully!) for warmth in these areas.

as said, I'd grab your air hose/nozzle & start blasting

What happens if water spray have gotten sucked in through the air filter?

other than the possibility of some of the filter element getting wet and soggy & shredding (& I dont think that is an issue) then as far as the eng ingesting a slight spray, no worries there

Nothing wrong with a little water in the carb, as long as you didn't try washing the engine out with the hose.

You can pour a gallon of water down the carb, as long as it stays running, it is not an issue on that end, I would look at the electrical like everyone else has noted...Tim

Back in "the day" , this was a common problem after taking your car to the "25 cent" car wash..

99% of the time it was water under the distributor cap..

Have you taken it off and wiped it dry then sprayed it with WD40 yet?? Probably the thing to do before you post anymore questions on here...

xyxxjx, post all you want & holler how it turns out. even tho WD40 is technically a Water Displacer I would not use it in the cap & just blast it dry inside it & call it a day

I took the cap off it apears to be new, and it was completely dry. The spark plug wires visually apeared ok. The idle is still not too good but appears slightly better than a few days ago so maybe something is drying up. The idle seems ok in park when the engine has warmed up a bit, but terrible for the first few minutes. When I put it in drive the rpm drops and the car is shaking a lot, feels like it wants to stall. The first video is shifting from park to drive and back again. If you turn up the sound you can hear it better. Also what is the high pitched sound over the rumble of the engine? Seems like it got a bit louder. The second video is of the firewall in the engine compartment.

http://sendvid.com/eb8iwult?secret=ac1b02b2-67f0-4dce-9b11-c8416c55b38c
http://sendvid.com/mpjw9ex8?secret=d766727b-9233-4ef3-a957-106c3213b593

That's a commiefornia emissions car eh? Noticed a lot of emission controls were disconnected, also, change that filthy air filter.. and fix that spaghetti wiring yikes.

Will get new airfilter. Yeah the wiring looks nightmarish

Do you think I need a new bulkhead connector from what you can see?

Can't see the bulkhead (too much in the way). Disconnect it and look for corroded and/or burnt terminals. Make sure to take the positive battery cable off first for safety reasons.

I always thought the negative terminal had to be disconnected first.

either one is fine. I think that the neg one is a good practice cuz with a wrench on the positive cable bolt if you get it horizontle & it touches some nearby metal such as the batt holdown which is grounded, sparks will fly but not so if the same thing happens working on the neg cable

Even a slight amount of moisture inside your cap will cause problems, my reason for recommending a "water displacer"...
Did you at least blow it out with air?

Correct, auto mechanics 101. A blown up lead acid battery is a sight to behold.

Unfortunately I didn't have access to air but it felt bone dry when I ran my finger inside.

Spray the inside of the cap with WD-40. It doesn't take much moisture to cause problems.

Hairdryer.. or you can buy cans of compressed air at a computer store. Handy to have when thing get wet but not in a fun way.

I'll buy some compressed air in a can tomorrow and try. Would you recommend also trying to spray the bulkhead and all those wire on the firewall? Since they may also have been hit with water. I think I'll buy a set of these http://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS+Performance+Products/555/40252/10002/-1. Just to eliminate the spark plug wires.

Best on the bulkhead connector is to remove it and visually inspect. Look for signs of corrosion and heat, especially on the heavy power feed wires. After inspection, clean as best possible, grease it and re-install. I like the spray lithium grease for this but any grease will work.

If you find signs of heat and/or heavy corrosion, best to bypass using one of the many strategies (search Madd Electrical Bypass for example). This is a good idea anyhow for reliability.

You mean this page? http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/amp-gauges.shtml

Yep... that's the one. The bulkhead connector and ammeter (if equipped) are the trouble spots. Also to a lesser extent fusible link connections near the fender relay. I have had trouble with the bulkhead and fusible link. Others have difficulties with the ammeter. The bulkhead and fusible link can be sensitive to water.

There are several approaches to fix this... the madelectric way is one of the good ones.

I tried to unhook leftmost connector on the bulk the platic clip? Broke right off, barely touched it at all. I wasn't able to locate the fusible link could you explain in detail where it is?

follow the main power line from the starter relay large battery stud to the bulkhead, it should have a molded tag on it to ID it. it was fine before the car wash water was introduced so I would continue to blow dry everything and the blast may have also undid something a bit that is causing this