I have a good idea, but I want to know how 'you' degrease your engine bay?

Cleaners and **** don't seem to do jack squat for thick *** 'sludge' inside the engine bay. I was thinking of using a pressure washer with hot water from inside the house. Would this be good enough to take out any grease?

 

ive done it with a pressure washer....... worked great!!!! most people say to cover all the electrical components........ i.e alternator, c.a.s, ect........ but w/ a pressure washer, it will just blow off........ so i just washed it w/out covering anything........ worked fine, no problems at all......and she was very peerdy!!! before i washed it, i sprayed engine degreaser and let it sit for a few minutes, then washed it!!! good luck

 

maybe if you will be liberally spraying water all over the place, you might remove the battery first. i know it would at least make me feel better. oh and be careful if you are using a real pressure washer, you don't want to be cutting into hoses and wires.

 

Have alook at www.metalwax.com for their metal cleaner. It OK on aluminum, but be careful as it is acidic. Get some small brass brushes from you local out parts store.

 

If you use a pressure washer, use a low power one and be careful. Those things can slice through rubber hoses and wires as Bingoboy said. And I doubt all that water in and around all those electrical components is a good thing either. I honestly wouldn't try it on my car. What kind/brand of cleaners have you tried?

Just a random thought, maybe someone else with experience can comment on this, but has anyone tried oven cleaner? That stuff gets baked on grease out of ovens, I would assume it could do wonders for an engine too. Just an idea.

 

My friend Dexter uses oven cleaner on his honda engines. The only problem is that you have to let it sit for awhile then scrub a little.

 

I use that foam carb cleaner stuff with a toothbrush, makes it look brand new

Edit-I mean the engine bay itself, not the engine. I've even tried steam cleaners and it doesn't work, carb cleaner= the best

-Andrew

 

it's not the engine thats a problem for me, it's the grease stuck to the paint in the engine bay, ammonia based cleaner works pretty well at getting it loose but i prefer detailing my engine bay by hand rather than using a pressure washer, my wiring harness as well as a lot of people's has deteriorated enough that the water can cause the wires to oxidize in their looms causing high resistance and some of the most irritating problems to try and diagnose. .

 

Gunk degreaser and then to the car wash....use their pressure washer. It is not very high pressure. Works great.

I had to pull the motor but I wanted to get 98k miles of oil and dirt off B4 I started. Still the motor had so many places that a pressure washer cannot reach there was a lot of grime still on the motor.

If I had to do it again I would have started a week earlier and used WD40 as it is a solvent. I would have sprayed half a can on everything (electrical less direct) a few hours before and then sprayed it off at the car wash followed up by the rest of the can to chase the water and get any reisidual grime. I would have followed it up again in two days.

The WD40 soaked in and loosened all that really deep grime that was left over from when I tried to clean it the first time.

 

I've tried carb, break and castrol engine degreaser. The worst is the castrol, if you leave it on there too long, it will begin to leave a 'scum' that discolors alluminum EASILY. It sucks for looks, but yes it will take away the grease.
I remember leaving an aluminum cap from my ACV in a jar of it, just to see what happens. A day later it was covered in this lime croaded ****.

Anyways, the grease is WAY to much for the carb and break cleaner, its like sludge, im not kidding, I'll get pics tomorrow and show you guys. I want to pressure wash it first with hot water, then use the carb cleaner and get the little spots it missed. Then wash it with just a regular hose and put a smile on my face.

 

mine was a thick sludge, i blasted it off when i had the engine out but there was still a film of the grease left over that the pressure washer could not even get off, that's where it takes a little extra effort to get clean.

and be careful with carb or brake cleaner, it can easily strip the paint off of spots where the paint is scratched or beginning to flake off.

 

I see. The dirtiest part in the whole bay is the crossmember, its just ******* filthy, just disgusting, you wouldn't believe how much sludge is on it from a leaking engine over the years. Hahaha, bigretardhead if your reading this, you'll know what im talking about when I send you the steering rack lol.
Does the crossmember have paint on it?

 

it's supposed to be gloss black..

 

Try using simple green as an alternative to castrol super clean. Not as strong as castrol but very safe to use on pretty much everything. Gunk foam degreaser worked well for me.

 

this is going to sound retarded, but it worked for me... 3 or 4 years ago i was driving my car and hit something on the road, had the side wall blow out so i took it to walmart to get a new tire in a hurry, while i was there waiting i noticed they were messing with my engine bay, but i didnt say anything thinking hell i might get some freebies out of it if they got something confused... but anywho i got the car back and drove it about 50 feet before i noticed some smoke coming from my hood, so i poped it, and they had left my oil fill cap off, i went back there and raised some hell, and get them to clean and detail my engine bay for the big 'mess' i claimed they had caused....

so my theory, get some people at walmart to clean your engine.... you might have to take the oil cap off yourself, but if you can blame it on them.. you will get a free cleaning

 

the people at walmart will never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever touch my car.

 

I'm going to use my dads steamer thing. Maybe some simple green to go along with it. I don't know about the side walls though. Afraid the hot steam may take the paint off or something.

 

If I went to Walmart to have tires put on (never doing that again btw) and I saw them lift the hood, I would jump the little gate, grab the nearest tool, and start cracking skulls.

 

i don't let places put wheels on my car. last time my friend did that it took an act of god to get his lug nuts off.

 

When I took my GXL in for MD inspection, the guy put the lugs back in so hard that I needed about 10 feet of pipe to crack each of them off, I was litarally jumping on it with my whole weight (200lbs). I broke two impact rated sockets in the prosess.

NO ONE at WALmArt, Jiffy Lube, or any other valu-lube shop is going to every touch my car.

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Best cleaner for absalute scum on the engine? Try it, this really works well: Dish soap.

I also heard cocacola surup works wonders.

 

ever?

 

hey, when you live in a small *** town like i do, and you're always blowing money on your car... walmart is the only option for a cheap quickie tire replacement.. and hell i thought they would give me some wiper fluid or something.. i love me some freebies and with me raising hell about them leaving the fill cap off, i got a free cleaning, and it looked pretty nice... they had to use like 5 cans of their engine degreaser... but they got the job done.

but on a serious note, couldnt you take your car to a car wash, and use the tire/engine degreaser and the pressure washer they have... seems like that would be the easiest way to do it... if that 'tire/engine degreaser' really works

 

There's no way to remove the base layer attached to the paint or whatever without doing actual work.

Use degreaser and pressure to remove the sludge, then a wash mitt and a bucket of soapy water. Spray degreaser, wash off with soapy water, rinse, repeat as necessary.

 

you're lucky they didn't screw something up while cleaning it, i mean they left the cap off so they could do worse...

i do my work myself.

 

I use a couple of cans of Foamy Engine Brite and a garden hose hooked up to the hot water. I've found that the citrus based stuff works perty well too. With how fragile the wireing and plastic is getting in there, I wouldn't trust anyone else with cleaning it.