Hi All,

I want to clean and detail my engine bay, but I can't just cover the intake and take a pressure hose to it like I can my 4-cylinder

What's the best way to go about doing this?

I was thinking I would pull off the air intake and seal the carp completely, but is there anything else that is particularly water sensitive?

I'm not planning on cleaning the engine itself ... it's actually pretty clean. I mainly want to get the bay and under-hood cleaned.

Thanks.

 

i do it all the time. since ur only doing the engine bay and not the engine, just use a good degreaser and hose it down. even when cleaning the engine, u don't spray the carb directly and leave the air cleaner on it.

 

Try to either keep the ignition electricals on the left fender dry, or do this on a nice warm day and give plenty of time for things to dry out before starting. I wouldn't use high pressure.

 

I had the same question, I love being BAW, gives me plenty of time to snoop the forum around for info.

 

Here you go

https://www.rx7club.com/1st-gen-archive-71/other-finally-some-pics-441703/

Unfortunately, I didn't take any "before" pictures. The entire engine bay had never been touched, and she had nearly 200k miles on her. Decades of old grease and dirt, but underneath it all was perfect paint.



.

 

Engines get wet just driving in the rain, so it's not as big of a deal as some people thing. Electrical connectors are generally sealed (not accounting for age of plug). Generally the rule of thumb is to try to avoid too much water on electrical components. I'll actually use a leaf blower to dry the engine after...helps get water out of those small areas!

 

ive always thrown a washcloth over the alternator,its a bad idea to shoot water directly into those openings in the housing and yes def. dont want to saturate the electrical stuff,ive always used the engine cleaner in a can and sprayed while engine still has just a little heat still in it,and of course when i got the garden hose out made sure it was well cooled down

 

This may sound counter intuitave, but I have de-greased my engine bays in the past on many different cars. My recomendation is to get a spray bottle of any "purple" cleaner and use it full strength. Spray all "in-bay" body panels and engine block and accessories (minus the carb, distributer, elec connectors, and alt). Let it sit for 10-15 min (scrub the caked areas - but use latex gloves if you do and then re-spray). Then - heres the key - I start the car and blast away w/ the hose nozzle being careful not to hit the coils, dist, airfilter, etc. If I do need to clean those areas, I blip the throttle by hand (or have a helper press the pedal). If water goes in to a bad spot the car immediatly boggs and I pull the hose away. Car shouldn't stall if you pay attention.

After a few hard starts from cleaning my engine bays, I learnmed to simply keep the car running in the process. Iv'e tried putting bags over the intake, dist, etc. Somehow water still got in there after being quite careful.

When done, I dilute some armor-all and paint the entire engine bay top to bottom. Close the hood - keeping the car running, then I wash the outside of the car to get grease, purple cleaner, and armorall overspray off. If armor-all make sthe belts squeal, use a bar of soap and touch the underside of the moving belts carefully. Squealing should stop instantly....

Note - hitting the car with a hose while running makes the belts and fan sling water EVERYWHERE. Be careful of the cleaner and your eyes! After a few miniutes idling, the heat makes the armor-all spread out on the parts and helps dry out stadning water in creaveces and connectors. You can go back in and spot spray any remaining dull areas. Then get a few cans of carb cleaner and spot spray the carbs, dist cap, coils, electrical connectors, etc. The carb cleaner dries very fast and is a great at cleaning water sensitive parts. Then re-hit those w/ armor-all. Good luck!

 

Since my major initial cleaning detailed in the link above, to touch up the bay now I just pull into a do it yourself carwash, shut down the engine, and hose away. I try to avoid the distributor, but that's about it. The heat from the warm engine dries it up pretty quickly, and I haven't had any issues so far doing this.

But on the other hand, my engine bay is pretty naked. If stock, I'd bet there would be a much greater potential for issues related to water.

 

Thanks guys. I'll take some pics and let you know how it goes

I can't wait.

 

OK, I cleaned my 85 GSL-SE engine compartment and screwed something up. BTW, I only did this cause a car inspection place gave me grief about a "fluid leak" on the power steering pump, which was just silly, but to save paying the inspection price again and make the guy feel bad, I decided to degrease the engine compartment back to shiny. So far that has backfired.

I used Magic 2-in-1 Engine Shine, partly because it was supposed to not need covering special components. I followed the instructions- although used more water than I should have and definitely got some on the K&N cone air filter. Waited the 15 minutes, rinsed, and the car would not start. Starter moving, but nothing firing. I figured it was flooded, but the easy de-flood procedure didn't work. So I waited until the next weekend, then did a complex de-flood including starting with the plug out, then replaced the spark plugs. Still nothing.

I guess I am going to have to hit the "End all for no start threads", but I am pissed. Partly at myself, party at Quix Auto Inspection, partly at Black Magic, partly at my water hose...

 

Either find a big hill or pull the car with another one poping the clutch while in second gear. If you've never done this before and you're pulling it with another car, you need to remember to be back on the clutch and the brake so you don't hit the pull car. Doing this will allow the engine to get up to 2000 rpm vs 200 rpm with the starter. It works well for flooded engines.

 

Not in the 1980's, they weren't.

 

Pull engine, prepare elbow grease, apply elbow grease, PAINT IT GOLD!



In all seriousness though. You should take a peek at your dizzy. Might have gotten some moisture in there.

 

the gold engine bay is sexy!

 

Degreaser, shop towels, elbow grease. It's a pain in the *** but the last two years I've done an initial cleaning in the spring and spent HOURS doing it, but the results are fantastic in comparison. Because I drive my 7 as a daily from the beginning of spring until the first snow fall, on top of the amount of time it spends with the hood open while working the bay gets pretty damn dirty, but with my luck I'd ruin something spraying it down with a high pressure hose, so I make it a point to get in there with the degreaser and do the whole thing by hand.

 

all you need a plastic bag over the distributor cap to prevent "moisture" prior to hosing down the entire engine bay. Otherwise, you will have a hard time starting it and it will run like **** for a few minutes

 

I got in unflooded, but it took multiple attempts, pulling the plugs twice. More smoke than I have ever seen, and I have unflooded it about ten times over the years.

From now on if cleaning the engine area with water, I do it with the car running.

 

A LOT of smoke when I finally got it unflooded. Not sure the pics do it justice. Went on for more than 20 minutes. I expected the fire department to stop by.

 

excellent smoke show !


i always worry about the gas cloud firing during that procedure *knock on wood* so far been safe though