Hello , I have a 1989 ford f-150 cleaned the engine covered up all electrical , starts fine but after a few secs idles out and almost sounds like it backfires, something told me not to do this,HELP

 

and now it is steeming a little from one exhaust tube

 

Did you rinse it off well? Also check to see if you might of knocked something loose in the process of covering things up. I find it very strange the cleaning the motor would cause these problems.

 

i also get a bad odor, it was running really good before hand , and i just got done checking everything

 

Start by checking for codes, this thread will explain how:
https://www.f150forum.com/f10/how-retrieve-trouble-codes-obdi-10907/

 

I don't cover the electrical stuff up - but after a washing - always open the distributor up to dry it out. Seems to be a layer of condensate droplets coating everything.

Have had good success using tire bleach-white. Makes the rubber and plastic look good, doesn't seem to leave the dirt residue behind like some engine degreasers.

 

LOL that happen to me once.... i had to use a little bit of wd-40 to displace some water on my cap so i could get home.. but luckily it was in the summer so it dried out later that day... ur right, the exhaust does stink pretty bad when it happens!

 

Ditto what dustin said,
after washing my engine I had the same symptoms. I had air dried the distributor cap and plug wires, but until I used a water displacer (I used penetrating oil) it just ran funny. Give that a shot and give it a nice long run at temp to dry out if it runs fine afterward.

 

if the solenoid is starting to go out due to the water then that would probebly be the odor, and wich in turn will make the truck over heat, sounds weird but does happen