What is the best way to clean your engine bay?

Products? Methods?

 

i don't do anything too complex, warm the car up, spray it with simple green (although lots of stuff works), and pressure wash it.

if you can hook the pressure washer up to HOT water it works better.

 

Will pressure washing hurt any of the wiring or anything else of the sort?

 

I always use simple green scrub by hand with a semi-soft bristle brush and rags, then follow up with some engine bright..

 

I was wondering the same thing

 

Same, I want to take it to my local car wash and hose it down, but im afraid its going to mess something up.

 

^^^ dont do it

your better off removing every part and brushing it off with a wire brush than having to diagnose a electrical problem.

 

Are you talking from experience? Did you have any electrical problems after power washing your engine bay?

 

Do not do it while the engine is hot hot, just warm. People have cracked their blocks, at least on piston engines, buy dumping very cold water on hot engines. I'd also consider wrapping the coils in plastic grocery bags.

Some people use pressure washers, which is fine if you use common sense and avoid the 20 year old crunchy hoses and such. A lot of people just soak with degreaser, then use a garden hose and nylon brush/towel problem areas to further agitate dirt.

 

it'll take stickers/labels off and you probably don't want to point it at the CAS and main relay but other than that the rotary is a lot better than a piston engine

lol, thats a TON of work! if you pressure wash with a hot/warm engine the water dries off quickly. if stuff under the hood can't handle being wet, you wouldn't be able to drive in the rain either

i really doubt anyone has broken a block since the 30's.... but yeah a little common sense and the pressure washing works really well.

this thread is such a cliche, i've been cleaning my cars this way forever and never had a problem, but someones going to go out an fill the ECU with water and then wonder why the car doesn't run....

 

Someone post a video of washing your engine bay lol

 

I have washed literally a thousand engines, and dozens of times RX7s, you dont have to worry about a pressure washer

just dont use a 5000psi

I actually prefer to start with a COLD engine so that nothing cracks suddenly cooling. Spray windshield and fenders with some water.
Spray down with good degreaser, I use engine wash from auto magic, sponge some of the painted areas, let it sit a few minutes, then pressure wash. I blow it with some compressed air to get any large puddling. Then start the car right away and let the heat of the engine dry things until it is completely dry. Spray down with good silicone based dressing or spray.

 

lol a block is going to crack from some surface water getting on it? How insane does that sound.

Imagine the carnage that would happen when it rains. There would be a line of cars with freshly cracked blocks on the side of the road after each big puddle.




...

Everything under the hood is designed to handle moisture. If it gives you problems, that problem was there before, just wasn't noticed until moisture got in there.

 

Well you can spend some time and google and read about peoples with older cars cracking exhaust manifolds and such when quenched with cold water, or rotors on the track that get really hot then crack/warp in water. Blocks? I'm not sure, it's just something I was told by a detailer, but I still would not dump cold water on a super hot turbo manifold.

"designed to handle moisture" some sure, but there are many points on the car that are made to handle splashes and not power washing or hoses. Go on autopia and I am sure you will about 20 professional detailers describing how they ruined a distributers (which also crack when very hot), or power washing the grease out of idler bearings/fans/pumps, and destroying coils/alternators.

In my particular situation, there is a $2000 ecu on the side of the battery tray with a hood that protects from a little water. Am I worried about some water from a hose getting near it? No. Am I going to be a jackass and spray a power washer at the battery box in an attempt to clean it? Nah.

 

I learned the hard way from the old cadillac 4-6-8 motors and Ford 5.0's ( ton of them in town cars, cougars, t-birds etc ) that it was also not so much as something cracking - and by that I didnt mean a engine block, more so plastics. The issue was steam, steam would form on the inside of the distributor and you would have to dry it after running a little bit.

One of the cracked plastic because the engine was hot was with a v-12 Jag, cracked the distributor cap and even back then it was not cheap - but Im showing my age here. A cold engine is more friendly to water, and your engine compartment does not see the amount of direct water it does when it rains versus a pressure washer is being aimed at it

 

i pressure washed my daily once and it didn't run for 2 weeks after that... FAIL :p

 

Rob...you said..One of the cracked plastic because the engine was hot was with a v-12 Jag, cracked the distributor cap and even back then it was not cheap - but Im showing my age here. A cold engine is more friendly to water, and your engine compartment does not see the amount of direct water it does when it rains versus a pressure washer is being aimed at it[/QUOTE]

After washing it when it is cold I am assuming it is alright to start the engine and let it run so that the water evaporates, right?

 

After washing it when it is cold I am assuming it is alright to start the engine and let it run so that the water evaporates, right?[/QUOTE]

at that point its the best thing for it, the heat will dry everything

 

not an fc but just washed my hc luces engine bay(v6) today, now it feels like its running a cylinder down and the catylitic converter light came on. have i got water in the distributer or somehting?

 

Just scrub things down by hand with some good degreaser/engine bay cleaner, and carefully rinse it with a bit of water. Although it is more time consuming, it would probably be your safest bet.

 

like this =)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPP8NkjPGvk

 

think id wet my plugs (so it was igniting un-burnt fuel once it got down the exhaust because one plug wasnt firing). its dried out over night and is fine now.

 

pressure washing piston engines is different. there is ALWAYS a spot for water to collect and get water into the spark plugs.... distributor caps are notorious, if they are really bad, you just need a damp day.

but the FC doesn't HAVE a distributor cap, and it doesn't HAVE spark plug wells...

when they put the ECU in the engine bay, like the MS3 or the Rx8, i'd steer clear of that, or pull it out, not a good idea to get that wet.

as a closer i pressure washed a BMW the other day, and nothing bad happened. except that i missed like half the inner fender, oops

 

pressure washing an engine bay is bad as it causes water to be forced into plugs and the water will leave deposits or cause connections to corrode.

bad idea. just a simple degrease with some solvents, and a light spray works wonders.

 

list:
walmarts top tech engine degreaser
brake kleen
dish soap
a spray bottle
if you can find it its called wheelie clean ( good stuff)
tools
tooth brush
soft bristle brush small med and large

warm up car a lil not hot, spray the degreaser on block cover your alt, maf , cas top
and dont go ***** to the wall scrub off and gentle rinse its time consuming but it turns out well. with out hurting anything.