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First I must admit, I'm not mechanically inclined, however I am trying to learn about 6th Gen Civics as there are so many out there it seems like the best platform to learn.

I also work in the detail department of a Ford Dealership and have NEVER had this happen before.

This is my 3rd Honda Civic out of 7 vehicles I have owned since I began driving 3 years ago. I currently drive a 1998 Honda Civic LX Sedan (D16y7) with 215xxxkms (Canadian) on original motor and components. Regular maintenance every 3000 kms and check ups on fluids bi-weekly. The car has been running reasonably good since I got it, nothing major has happened.

Clutch pedal stopped working early into owning the car and it turned out to just be murky fluid in the reservoir. I changed that and its been solid since. The car had been burning alot of oil when i got it (5w30) so I was recommended by crx owners to run 10w40. It runs better once warm in my opinion but it no longer reads when I look at the dip stick. Vehicle can be cold or warm and still will not read. When the light flutters in drive I just topped it a little bit and the light would go away. Still burning some but not nearly as much is present on the rear bumper. Often one of the belts will lightly whine constantly if the heater is on high and one of the belts screams sometimes for a second on cold start but stops before I have time to pop the hood and see where its coming from as it happens maybe once bi-weekly. Other then that though the car has been great, it is manual transmission (5speed) and have not had any slippage or common warnings of a major component failing.

What I think happened:

I washed the vehicle engine bay 2 days ago, didn't use any high pressure but sprayed down everything with a heavy degreaser and rinsed it with the hose but I got close and angled around components to clean off all the degreaser. I didn't cover anything to protect it from the water as I have cleaned hundreds of motors in the past with no issue even with high pressure but I think I got water inside something electrical and/or mechanical and that's why it struggles to start and once started misfires and dies in gear with acceleration at higher rpms.

What the Vehicle is doing:

Saturday (washed motor): Several hours after washing the motor it started fine, let it warm up to running temp like usual for 15-20 minutes because of thicker oil, went into first and rolled out of the parking lot I was in from work and it stalled at the end of the lot before the street. Went to restart and lights on dash flickered and car wouldn't crank over. Just ticked like the battery was dead. Went back and grabbed a booster to jump it and it struggled but started. Gave it a little gas thinking it would help charge the battery a bit but it backfired and died out. Tried restarting again and would crank but not turn over. Pushed it back into the lot and left it for the night as they were locking up the gates. Went home and did some research on what could cause that not thinking about how I washed everything. No check engine light. Research suggested it could be the battery connections, main fuses under the hood, main relays, fuel filter, fuel pump, distributor, alternator, spark plugs and wires, throttle body, catalytic converter, coolant temp sensor, ignition coil, or a recall.

Sunday: Went in and first tried to just start the motor again, only to have that same flicker and clicking of a dead battery. Put it on the booster again and again it struggled to start but once it started, it again held idle. I ran a bluedriver obd2 scanner hoping for some sort of code and nothing came up. Went to the live menu and everything looked okay. Seemed to be communicating accurately. It did have a recall notice for the ignition but I cant confirm if it had been replaced or not. I've never received notification about it. They usually will when it registers to a new owner if they hadn't. I removed the booster once the motor was warm and tried to drive it to a better spot to check it out as it was pouring outside. Went into first fine and I was able to move it around the corner under some trees at a low speed, mostly rolled to be honest. Thinking maybe nothing was wrong now, I put it in reverse and backed out of the corner which it handled fine as it was also at a low speed; switched to first and was just going to take it around the lot and see how it handled getting into higher gears. I got about 10-15 feet into accelerating first to switch gears and it misfired as it shook the car and died out. I tried restarting the car and again it cranked but would not turn over. I read somewhere to try giving it a bit of gas as you crank over and that did help it start after a bit of struggle. Not sure if the car being at running temp at this point makes a difference in it needing a jump when cold. It held idle, went into first and letting it roll up to speed was fine, as again the car was on a slant making it want to go forward. Got towards the end of the lane where it was wide enough that I could possibly just turn it completely around and get it back into the spot under the trees, gave it some gas and the same misfire and dying out happened. Restarted the car with a bit of struggle with the gas method and had it hold idle another minute.I then repeated the roll thing in first to get back into the corner under the trees. Once back over I ran it again for codes to no avail. Seems whenever its given gas whether at idle or in first and reverse that it just dies out, possibly with addition of misfiring/backfiring 1-3 times prior. I left it again for the night and switched my research tactic to what could go wrong if you wash the motor since I didn't cover any components and I don't know what to look for in the above mentioned possible causes so I wasn't about to start taking it apart. That research told me that there may be moisture in the spark plug wells, their associated wires, and/or in the distributor cap. All which could be as easy as drying out said components or having to straight replace those components which narrows it a little more but doesn't exactly eliminate the previous list as I couldn't verify those components are all actually working properly as I'm not mechanically inclined. My next thought is being lucky enough to break down at work I may as well ask service if they can try and diagnose the issue as a second opinion. I have a few coworkers who have more mechanical knowledge I plan to ask their opinion for as well as I don't know where to start.

Monday: Update coming.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I am so lost with this car and I don't want to give up on it. Other then this issue its in amazing condition, no stereo but the interior is immaculate and it was repainted last year. Very very minimal rust. Ran totally fine prior to washing it.

Thank you for your time and any help you can spare!