Weird SPF High Beam Electrical Issue

[jhv48]

Years ago, after about 12,000 miles of driving, I had the brilliant idea of cleaning the engine compartment. Put plastic over the distributor, solenoid, alternator and then carefully applied a degreaser. Let it foam and then took a hand held pump up garden sprayer to carefully aim the water where I wanted it.
Well, I didn’t insulate all the electrical parts good enough. Some water got into either the starter or solenoid and the car proceeded to try and start itself. Since the car was in gear, the cranking starter motor pushed the car into a cement pole and kept grinding it into the pole until the battery finally shorted out. $17,000 worth of damage.
Lesson learned: disconnect the battery if you’re going to try and clean the engine compartment with any water. Then use a leaf blower to blow any excess water out of the engine compartment. Then, when you reconnect the battery, make sure the car is in neutral and be ready to disconnect it quickly in case some water got where it shouldn’t be.