Do you wash your engine ?

[tolik1980]

I want to know if anybody washing your engine and how often
and was there any electronic problems after dat ?

[Fresco Bob]

Some people wash their engines alot, other maybe a couple times a year, especially right after winter when the engine is really dirty. I think the most important thing to cover up is the alternator, other than that, check out this thread http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/t19193.html

[TTercel]

I always wanted to do that but i was scared that i might mess up some electrical stuff. Is there anywhere that i could get done by someone else?

[Fresco Bob]

^a detailing shop

[jhbhatia]

get it steamed cleaned at a detail shop, rather than presurized water...they use steam! Its safer on the metal parts. Just make sure to tell them NOT TO USE AROUND BELTS!

[TTercel]

LOL you can tell I barely wash my car

[Grazi07]

I use CD2 engine detailer, a Brillo pad or two, and Mothers Mag metal polish... keeps it nice and pertty....

[Paladin06]

I wah mine everytime I wash the car. Always have!!

[Raddman]

Originally Posted by jhbhatia

get it steamed cleaned at a detail shop, rather than presurized water...they use steam! Its safer on the metal parts. Just make sure to tell them NOT TO USE AROUND BELTS!

How are you going to avoid getting your belts wet when their using steam, it condenses onto everything ...Radd Guy

[marc780]

I wash all my cars engines and i also wash engines of cars at work all the time. And 99 times of 100 there is no problem. I say USUALLY, but beware, becasue one time i washed my Sentra's engine. And it ran funny after that, wouldnt idle and barely start. It turned out that some water had gotten in past the spark plug attachment boot things (the long plastic things that go into the valve cover and snap on the spark plugs). So blowing it out with air fixed it because the spark plugs were shorting out from the little bit of water that got in.

Like the man said, cover the alternator with a bag, and the starter too, at least the connections. And dont spray directly on electrical connections . Other than that, usually there's no problem, just wash it, rinse it, remove your bags and start and run the engine for at least 10 minutes or drive it and this will steam away the excess water.

[Raddman]

Originally Posted by marc780

I wash all my cars engines and i also wash engines of cars at work all the time. And 99 times of 100 there is no problem. I say USUALLY, but beware, becasue one time i washed my Sentra's engine. And it ran funny after that, wouldnt idle and barely start. It turned out that some water had gotten in past the spark plug attachment boot things (the long plastic things that go into the valve cover and snap on the spark plugs). So blowing it out with air fixed it because the spark plugs were shorting out from the little bit of water that got in.

Like the man said, cover the alternator with a bag, and the starter too, at least the connections. And dont spray directly on electrical connections . Other than that, usually there's no problem, just wash it, rinse it, remove your bags and start and run the engine for at least 10 minutes or drive it and this will steam away the excess water.

I think that steam is the way to go ...Spray some good engine cleaner, leave it sit awhile then steam it...Using water your just spraying the engine with cold tap water that won't get grime/grease off even if you connect it to your hot water tap it still can't compare to the 212F+ of steam plus it doesn't splash all over your engine like water does ...just my opinion...Radd Guy...

[SolaraTRD]

I used to work for the largest detail shop here in Rochester and Buffalo NY.

When they clean out your engine, they don't "steam" anything. They spray tar remover and degreaser, pressure spray it all down. Spray armor-all, and use the compressor and rag to whipe and blow out excess armor all. NOTHING was covered. And MANAGERS approved! so sad...

[Raddman]

Originally Posted by SolaraTRD

I used to work for the largest detail shop here in Rochester and Buffalo NY.

When they clean out your engine, they don't "steam" anything. They spray tar remover and degreaser, pressure spray it all down. Spray armor-all, and use the compressor and rag to whipe and blow out excess armor all. NOTHING was covered. And MANAGERS approved! so sad...

[02whiteLE]

Originally Posted by SolaraTRD

I used to work for the largest detail shop here in Rochester and Buffalo NY.

When they clean out your engine, they don't "steam" anything. They spray tar remover and degreaser, pressure spray it all down. Spray armor-all, and use the compressor and rag to whipe and blow out excess armor all. NOTHING was covered. And MANAGERS approved! so sad...

I used to work at a dealership, and the detail shop did things the exact same way. They never touched my car. Of course, that's not as bad as my friend Chaves. One time in high school, we were washing our cars at his house, he decided to spray water directly into the inlet for the intake... for about fifteen seconds straight... while the engine was running.

[Tom 2000]

In the old days, I go to the coin-operated car wash, spray engine degreaser from a can, let it sit, and they spray it off.

99% of the time, I never had any problems.

It seems like some cars are better water-sealed than others, however. When I had my gen2, it stalled a few times after that. But it restarted and ran fine. The ignition system on that car was pretty crappy anyway.

On my Maxima, it never had problems.

What I do now is spray the engine with simple green. It degreases well and no nasty fumes.

Since I have a pressure washer at home now, I simple pressure wash it at home.

On my 4-cyl Camry, the alternator is in plain sight. What I do is to take some plastic-wrap or around it.


I only do it about once a year though....