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Engine bay cleaning HOWTO

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Old Apr 5, 2003 | 11:33 PM
  #1  
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Engine bay cleaning HOWTO

Does your engine bay look like crap?

Check out these before and after photos.

BEFORE:

Notice the dirtyness? (yeah, I know it's an integra. Ignore that )

AFTER:


Yeah, that's the same car! Amazing, eh?

Here’s how it works:



Start preferably in the morning when you engine is very very cold – you want to minimize evaporation.



Open up your engine compartment, and spray Gunk Engine Cleaner everywhere you possibly can. Try shooting it from different angles, standing in different places around the engine compartment.



Let that sit for 15-20 min.



Next, take a garden hose and gently rinse everything off (preferably with a sprinkler attachment) you do not want to use pressure here!



To lock-in the shinyness, use Armorall foaming tire cleaner.


Close the hood, drive the car or run the engine for 30 min or so to evaporate all the water, and when you open the hood, you will not believe your eyes!!!

(stolen from http://www.nsxhelp.com/amnsxlit/Engi...ngineTrick.htm )... go there or something !
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Old Apr 5, 2003 | 11:39 PM
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cool... have heard about using the tire cleaner somewhere never thought it'll work.. going to try that after i rebuild my motor.
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Old Apr 6, 2003 | 12:13 AM
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I use armor all under my hood for the rubber hoses n other lil things. makes me happy everytime I open the hood n see shiny rubber n plastic.
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Old Apr 6, 2003 | 01:12 AM
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Your right, that engine bay does look like crap before and after. Its a honda, lol.
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Old Apr 6, 2003 | 01:13 AM
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Thanks for the info though. I will try it tomorrow.
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Old Apr 6, 2003 | 04:42 AM
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Yeah when I was a detailer at a dealership, we used armor all on the hoses, black plastic etc.
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Old Apr 6, 2003 | 04:49 AM
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but thats a honda. we all know honda tricks dont work for mazdas :P
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Old Apr 6, 2003 | 04:57 AM
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Sure it does. The Honda can have it's motor swapped out, as can the 7. And it's quite effective for each. Although the 7 will still blow it to hell..



I must say again, nice clean engine there. Sometimes pictures especially digital will make it look even better, especially if you sharpen the picture a bit.. (just a tip)
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Old Apr 6, 2003 | 05:10 AM
  #9  
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Most of that dirt looks like dust and would come off just by spraying water on it. I dont think you are going to get 15 years of dirt off by just letting it soak once. Dunno, maybe that **** is stronger than I think.
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Old Apr 6, 2003 | 05:15 AM
  #10  
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Justin Credible
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Old Apr 6, 2003 | 05:37 AM
  #11  
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armor all...

I try to avoid Armor All...we used that stuff in the early 90's to clean the dash in our crappy Cordoba and it cracked the dash real good after 2 days.
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Old Apr 6, 2003 | 08:11 AM
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Don't forget -- If you have an open element air filter, do yourself a favour and cover it. The results are going to be... hydrolockingly interesting if you don't As well, bad things can occur when crank angle sensors and water mix. Just put a plastic bag over it.
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Old Apr 6, 2003 | 09:16 AM
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I've done this before and the results are fantastic. My engine had years of dirt on it and this technique make it look like new.
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Old Apr 6, 2003 | 09:22 AM
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I've just been taking parts off and using 409 and papertowels. hmmmm
how to get oxidation off of the aluminum intake manifold?
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Old Apr 6, 2003 | 10:40 AM
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One thing to be carful of is if you use something like Castrol Superclean. That stuff will do horrible wonders on alloy. Make sure you read the product warnings.

James
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Old Apr 6, 2003 | 10:45 AM
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Simple Green works wonders at full strength, and it pretty much completely safe to use. ALthough it takes a long time to rinse it out. Also, scrubbing helps, I never just let it SIT there. I always use a brush to help things out some. Also, I have used Castrol Superclean before and it works AWESOME, and I've never had a problem with it. Also I've never had a problem with Armor All cracking anything. Then again I only detail the motor in my cars about 2-3 times a year.
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Old Apr 6, 2003 | 11:19 AM
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Question about the Gunk - engine cleaners, including the product pdf they link to, always say 'protect plastic and wires.' The write-up says just spray everywhere and let it soak... Who do I trust?
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Old Apr 6, 2003 | 12:30 PM
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Be carfull spraying **** all over your engine bay. A friend on garagetuners.com recently was cleaning the engine bay of there honda, sprayed it all over engine bay etc, similar to how you did it. Only problem was the cleaner had oil's that seeped onto the clutch and inprenated themselves onto the pressureplate. Clutch slipped like hell even on a roll in 3rd, had to get a new clutch
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Old Apr 6, 2003 | 11:34 PM
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I guess this has nothing to do with second gens, because you can't clean their engines! oh wait, yes you can.

WTF?
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Old Apr 6, 2003 | 11:39 PM
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**** that was nice, good job.
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Old Apr 6, 2003 | 11:43 PM
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Excellent info..
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Old Apr 7, 2003 | 11:07 AM
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where can I find some of this miracle gunk remover or that green stuff u just mentioned........might try it out today....lol dont know if this was a good idea but i used armor all original shine on my hoses....i think it can look better
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Old Apr 7, 2003 | 11:44 AM
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Originally posted by |aFk| LiMiTz
where can I find some of this miracle gunk remover or that green stuff u just mentioned........might try it out today....lol dont know if this was a good idea but i used armor all original shine on my hoses....i think it can look better
Just go to any auto store like Autozone, O'Rielly's, Pep-Boys, etc...

I used "Engine Brite". Make sure that whatever you get is Aluminum safe.

BTW, here's a good thread on engine cleaning/spraying with a few different ways about getting it done:

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...threadid=84187
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Old Apr 7, 2003 | 11:52 AM
  #24  
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Thanks Mahjik once again to the rescue ....much appreciated :biggrin"
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Old Apr 7, 2003 | 12:18 PM
  #25  
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I used the Gunk engine cleaner. Smells potent, I'm always afraid a fire is going to break out after I use it. No flames yet though. The gUnK is good stuff.

I opted to take about a week, do small areas, get the Q-Tips out, dilute with water, no spray (it may not get into the electrics the first time or maybe even the second, but eventually that habit will catch up with you). Takes more time, but once you've got it clean, all you have to do is stay on top of it with a dusting every week.
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