Under Hood Cleaning

[Public Disturbance]

Ok so I was trying to clean all the dirt and grease from the engine bay and I did make a impact but I was wondering what percautions would I have to take just to take the car to the wash and spray under the hood to get all of the hard to reach spots that are still dirty

[90 GP]

The alternator,distributor cap/wires, relay boxes/timing belt are all areas to avoid or wrapped up prior to blasting. Have read where others cleaned with the power wash only to have ignition issues (ignitor failing) or timing belt slipping thereafter. Not a good place to have starting issues when you attempt to drive home.

[TyzToyz]

Not sure how a timing belt could slip by getting water on it , but if your gasket that goes around your spark plug access is not in top shape, water will get in there and cause issues. It happened to me .
The alternator should be fine getting wet and may actually like a nice shower.
I always wash my engines with it running and spray absolutely everything, but mabey I just get lucky most of the time.


Tye

[eage8]

I'm a big fan of taking the engine out and sitting in the engine bay with a box of paper towels and some purple power

[workerant]

should ask Kenny.

[SuperRA]

I like using superclean with a bunch of different nylon brushes such as toilet brushes (new), bottle brushes, toothbrushes and everything in between. Gently rinse with water to avoid getting it in places you don't want it.

[Zembonez]

This subject will bring out all sorts of voodoo methods.

I've always sprayed down the engine compartment with gunk and sprayed the hell out of it at the car wash. Done this many many times and on many vehicles and never had a problem. I leave the engine running while washing.

I think people don't realize how much water gets under the hood and all over the engine compartment in a downpour while you are driving (especially on the highway). Modern engine compartments are designed to deal with wet conditions.

I do recommend running the engine for some time to dry everything out after a good wash though. It just makes sense to put it away dry.

[Public Disturbance]

Originally Posted by Zembonez

This subject will bring out all sorts of voodoo methods.

I've always sprayed down the engine compartment with gunk and sprayed the hell out of it at the car wash. Done this many many times and on many vehicles and never had a problem. I leave the engine running while washing.

I think people don't realize how much water gets under the hood and all over the engine compartment in a downpour while you are driving (especially on the highway). Modern engine compartments are designed to deal with wet conditions.

I do recommend running the engine for some time to dry everything out after a good wash though. It just makes sense to put it away dry.

Ok so I would be good just to take the car to the car wash and put it on the degrease setting and just spray away, and its better to leave the car running????

[Zembonez]

Originally Posted by Public Disturbance

Ok so I would be good just to take the car to the car wash and put it on the degrease setting and just spray away, and its better to leave the car running????

When I do mine I try to concentrate on the dirty spots and not blast the electrical stuff any more than it takes to clean it. I do leave the car running.

[Createdtoburn]

A few times I've just gone to the car wash, with the engine not too hot and shut off. Then spray it all down with the gunk/degreaser soap crap, and then spray it all down with water. One thing to be careful of is the spark plug holes. One time I did this at work, and ended up with water flooding around the spark plugs so high it was making the engine run terribly! I sucked out all the water around them and it was fine after that.

I suggest doing it with the engine off, and when you're done let the engine dry for a little while, then start it up and let it run until it evaporates most the water in the engine bay. Just be careful not to spray water into your intake with aftermarket filters. If you have the stock intake box you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

[workerant]

I used the degreaser for the engine bay.

[Ghostyman]

Originally Posted by Createdtoburn

A few times I've just gone to the car wash, with the engine not too hot and shut off. Then spray it all down with the gunk/degreaser soap crap, and then spray it all down with water. One thing to be careful of is the spark plug holes. One time I did this at work, and ended up with water flooding around the spark plugs so high it was making the engine run terribly! I sucked out all the water around them and it was fine after that.

I suggest doing it with the engine off, and when you're done let the engine dry for a little while, then start it up and let it run until it evaporates most the water in the engine bay. Just be careful not to spray water into your intake with aftermarket filters. If you have the stock intake box you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

That is how I do it almost exactly.

Don't worry about the air intake. Unless you actually submerge the filter when you start it, you aren't going to hydro-lock the engine. A little water through the intake will actually help clean out the combustion chamber.

I don't cover anything, I just avoid spraying directly at the battery and distributor. I go hog-wild on the rest of it. Because of that, I sometimes get water in the spark plug wells and it runs rough until it dries out. If my spark plug wells aren't full of junk, I just pull the plugs and let them drain into the combustion chamber.

Here's my AE92 after a quick bath in dollar store degreaser:




Side note: the Dollar Tree (or whatever your dollar store equivalent is) sells some great degreaser. It's by "LA's Totally Awesome" and comes in an opaque bottle with the label printed directly on the bottle. Avoid the "orange" style degreasers and stick to this stuff. I use it undiluted on my engines and it works just as well as Simple Green or Purple Power.



http://www.lastotallyawesome.com/htm...Degreaser.html

[workerant]

^ very clean and wow what a mess. LOL

[Donald]

I use Gunk (or whatever your prefered brand) engine cleaner/degreaser, and a garden hose.
Simple Green, Grease Lightening, Honda Motorcycle cleaner, K-100 Motorcycle cleaner all work well too.

Beware of splashing greasy dirt and other crap into the alternator, that can cause all kinds of evil if you don't get it out.