sandiegorx7

89 N/A Convertible. Bought it from someone in Pennsylvania and I'm in California. Had the car shipped here. The thing is completely filthy inside and out from the east coast winters, etc. It looks like the engine compartment and components haven't been cleaned in the 18 years it's been on the road. The rex runs very well and has an excellent service record and has 125k miles on it.

My question is what is the best way to clean everything under the hood? I'm talking you can scrape dirt and old oil and fluids off that's 1/4 inch caked on a lot of the tops of the components, there's oil on stuff, just a complete disaster. I called the guy up and asked him if he ever looked under the hood, and he said, "No, I just took it to the mechanic when it needed service. Maybe I looked under there once." Plus, the carpet inside is totally trashed, the seats are all cracked...I need a big refurb job and am willing to do it myself...cleaning, seat covers, shampoo the carpet, rejuvinate the rag top...whatever.

But my main concern is, is it okay with the engine to use stuff like simple green and other commercial "engine degreasers" and cleaners and stuff and spray it all over everything under the hood, or will that harm some of the parts of the engine or what? I plan on doing just a soap and water "pre-clean and caked on muck scrape off" then use a cleaner, then use a power washer to hose everything down. Sometimes I've heard that it's not really advised to use such a powerful stream of water on what might be delicate sensors and stuff under the hood.

Any feedback?

SpooledupRacing

IME if u cover ALL of the electrical items (cas, pull wires, cover coils, cover alt or pull off alt, etc) then u can hit everything with simple green or any other de-greaser.. HOWEVER here is the catch 22

Simple green will light if u dont COMPLETLY rinse the engine bay. and after all is said and done u should let the engien bay COMPLETLY DRY before u hook up or un cover any of yoru electronics.. then hook it all back up and start it up...

you should be more then fine!!!

J-Rat

iTrader: (2)

Well, there have been some horror stories, and some people have gotten away with it. The best way I have figured out so far, is to find some time when the car can sit for about 5 or so days after the wash. THEN, go ahead and use degreaser and a pressure washer (REMOVE THE BATTERY FIRST!!!). Once you wash the engine it MUST sit for a few days (maybe even stick a fan in the bay).

I personally think the problem lies with people starting up the car right after a wash with standing water in the engine bay. Maybe just a theory on my part, but it has worked for me several times.

Rat

apexFD

+1 I would also like to know the best way to make an engine shine without having to manualy clean every single peice. Of course without damaging anything.

Question: Once the engine is clean would it be a good idea to spray some kind of spray that repells liquid adhesion/dirt spray?

SpooledupRacing

to answer ?1 that would be.... get out the tooth brush (no lie)

answer to ?2 I would say NO. because alot of those have oil and other toxic chemicals that can either cath fire or cause damage to you or yoru car once heat is applied.

Dave

Messenger87

I am new to the Rotary world but I do know that on my conventional chevy motor in a 94 2 door tahoe I used a cleaning agent called purple power and let it sit for 30 minutes or so then took a pressure washer on wide stream and sprayed down my whole engine bay. I did that 2ce then afterwards I let it dry for an hour. I would then drive it and let the heat dry off the residual water. Then I parked the truck and let the engine cool. I then sprayed it down with the aerosol engine cleaner you can buy at any autoparts store and followed the directions from there. It made the engine look great and I never had electrical problems of any type. all in all I could be fundementally wrong due to the different engine types but most cars are built to withstand weather conditions so I would imagine that it could take a brisk wash every now and then.

SpooledupRacing

+1^^^

eff_three_see_es

iTrader: (11)

i used a couple of buckets of water and two bottles of simple green and a toothbrush. lol it took me like 3 hours of scrubbing but with a tooth brush and using buckets insted of spraying water everywere i kept all my electronics dry and safe. just be sure to completely rinse the simple green off or it will leave a nasty residue

apexFD

Can you post before and after pics?

sandiegorx7

Yeah, I definitely plan on posting before and after photos of the whole cleaning/restoration process. Just have to figure out how to upload photos here. Thanks.

C.A.R

Be carefull... I learned that this can be a touchy topic...
https://www.rx7club.com/interior-exterior-audio-26/washing-engine-582964/
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Anyway... My car came with a pretty clean engine bay so I just took it to the car wash and went to town on it... I started it 30 seconds later and drove off into the sunset...
When I had my Honda, it had an oil leak... I would spray some mean green (probably the dollar store version of simple green, but I am not sure) on the engine while it was cool... I would then take a garden hose and spray it off... That stuff worked good with out scrubbing and made stuff look brand new with scrubbing...
**
Be sure to cover the intake on the car when spraying it...
**

Tyblat

I managed this with a tooth brush and some dishsoap/water.





That took a hot 10 minutes. Just look at the shine!

spoolnblue

instead of a toothbrush to scrub with. Try finding a good wheel cleaner brush. The bristles are soft enough not to hurt anything. But sturdy enough to scrape all the **** off. The skinny long wheel brushes are also easier to get down into tight places where your hand cannot get into. This is what i do. Hope this is helpful.

micah

I second the wheel cleaner brush. You can get them in all kinds of shapes and sizes.. Go get yourself a large tub of simple green from costco... Use a pressure washer if its REALLY caked on.. but if you can avoid it... do.. pressure washers can also crack vacuum lines and OMP lines if they are super old and crusty... most of them are. Just be really careful.

Just do an "okay" job and wait until your next engine rebuild... then get in there after you yank the engine and clean it all up.... then you can clean the manifold and everything in a parts cleaner or just with simple green on your bench. Thats what I plan on doing.

SMonty

the car should be resistant to liquids, I would use a pressure washer (on wide spray) or just a hose with hot hot water and a cleaning agent and then see where that leads you, make sure there is no water at the spark plugs afterwards and if you can get a blow gun and give it a once over, a little bit of residual water wont do anything. post some before and after pics

staticguitar313

iTrader: (2)

i've sprayed washed my engine bay with the battery intact, just try not to aim for the battery/alternator etc. Not the smartest thing, but if your cautious there shouldnt be any issues.

micah

I sprayed out an engine bay one time.... (not my 7... it was a taurus) and I'm not sure if the plug wires were already brittle.. but they basically shattered when I started it up afterwards... Then I read the warning sign on the self-wash station I was at. It said "keep engine running while using engine cleaning mode.. failure to do so may result in engine failure or other issues"

Jodoolin

Twice I brought my 7s to an auto detailer and had them power wash the engine and bay. Bring plasitic bags and cover the altinator and ignitors and stuff rags into the air intake. They did a great job. Took their time and spent over 45 minutes with the clean. They blow dry the engine and bay. There was never a problem with either of them starting. I then brought them home and did the very fine details they missed using a bit of Simple green a tooth brush and Q tips.

The 25.00 and 35.00 it cost was well worth it. Saved me a ton of time and mess in the driveway.

My5ABaby

iTrader: (7)

I've read about this before and there seems to be a 50/50 (or so) split on what you can do. Alot of people suggest only doing it by hand with soap and/or some sort of de-greaser. Others have had no problems and good results with just a pressure washer.

Richter12x2

iTrader: (1)

Across the street from my friend's house lives a man with a diesel powered heated high pressure washer on a trailer. The engine was cool, but I bagged the air filter and the alternator and blasted away for 10 minutes. The kick on that thing was tremendous and it got real hot, real fast, even through the spray gun.

5 minutes later I started it up and drove it home.

Turbo II

iTrader: (1)

http://autopia.org/forum/guide-detai...detailing.html

daten

I say, park it. Tear the engine bay down, clean things up while they're apart, replace the old vacuum lines and hoses when you put it back together.

I wish I took better before and after pictures... but here's some old ones from my GXL. They're linked to larger copies.




I started with a completely stock engine bay. I lost the first set of before pictures.

I was only half satisfied with the result and obviously even in the after pictures there's room for improvement.

I'm still working on it, here's something more recent..

Richter12x2

iTrader: (1)

scrip7

iTrader: (6)

I have my engine out for rebuild and I have a nasty gunk cleaning task ahead of me.....probably the worst looking engine bay I have ever seen. Some idiot who had the car before me decided to use undercoating all over the engine bay (soundproofing perhaps?) Anyway, I'm thinking of pressure washing as much dirt off as I can before attacking the undercoat. Any ideas what chemicals to use to soften the undercoating? I'll try to add a pic or two so you can see what I'm up against.

micah

I too am smack dab in the middle of revamping my engine bay. I think the guy I had it from had the dirties engine bay.. We should compare pics. There was so much grease on things.... grease/dirt mud... There was LITERALLY 1/3" caked on the OMP. I couldn't even see definition of the bolts that were on there. The engine bay is dirty... not dusty.. dirty. Like if I planted seeds, they'd grow.

As for the undercoating/bed liner stuff.. I know of something that will take anything off. Brake fluid. As long as you keep an eye on it.. why not.