So my engine is a little dirty...

georryan · Post by **georryan** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 8:27 pm

Well the other day I washed and waxed my car was so happy to see it look so nice and shiny. I popped the hood to check the oil (I'm not sure why since it never loses a drop) and had to come the fact that yes, under my hood is a bit dirty.

What have you guys done to clean your engine? Is steam cleaning bad? If not, were would I do that? I keep looking at photos of the clean engine bays and I want one of those

Brat4by4 · Post by **Brat4by4** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 8:41 pm

Grab a couple of plastic bags and some good strong degreaser. Put bags over senstive areas near electronics. Spray degreaser, concentrating it in areas with lots of grease

. Spray down lightly with a hose. Get a toothbrush, spray degreaser on it and start taking down areas that resist spraying. Afterwards mist the whole engine again.

Then make sure you spray down the whole outside when down for errant degreaser. And don't spray degreaser with the car on... the fans are on and degreaser gets into the air stream and that can be ugly.

Next they have stuff that is sort of like armor-all for the engine. I don't know what it's called but detailers have it. It might be armor-all for all i know.

entirelyturbo · Post by **entirelyturbo** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 8:58 pm

Brat4by4 wrote:Put bags over sensitive areas near electronics.

Cover your sensors, cover your sensors, cover your sensors!!!

I mean, leave no stone unturned. If you see a wire, cover whatever it attaches to!

I degreased my engine once and actually was quite careful when spraying it down... When I started it back up, I had a CEL with codes related to: the TPS, the starter switch, the purge valve, the IAC, and the O2 sensor... I pulled the battery real quick and none of them came back

Nuff said...

georryan · Post by **georryan** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 9:58 pm

thanks for the tip, so basically just bag the heck out of my wires and connectors and sensors?

Is steam cleaning an engine bad? I've heard mixed reviews on this.

Grant · Post by **Grant** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 10:02 pm

The dealership I used to work at just degreasered and sprayed down the whole engine bay without covering or protecting anything. I never will spray anything underneath my hood however. I just clean under it occasionally the old fashioned way with a bucket and some rags that I will not miss

and sometimes a little bit of degreaser. It isn't perfect but for 11+ years old and almost 200K miles it looks pretty damn sharp and I don't have to worry about stuff like sensors. That and I also get a little closer feel with the car. A more personal experience. Like I discovered my sealant near the bolts for the oil pump is leaking oil. Not a lot at a time, just a little.

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 10:51 pm

Yeah, I'd be really scared of spraying water, even at low pressure, in my engine bay. I've seen what small amounts of water can do in the wrong place. And the wiring harnesses are everywhere. I don't think one could possible protect all the electronic components.

I don't clean my engine bay at all, though I should... I kind of feel like the layer of oily grime acts as a protectant against corrosion though.

If I were to clean it I'd just do what Grant does: use some rags and some Simple Green.

Post by **Legacy777** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 11:40 pm

Don't use steam....it can cause the rubber hoses to become brittle.

Heated water and pressure washer work well.

The electronics are pretty well sealed up from the factory......I've sprayed mine more times then I can count.

Brat4by4 · Post by **Brat4by4** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 2:50 am

What do you think happens when you drive on the highway in the rain and when you run through the inevitable puddle. Water fairies come out and block all the evil water?

Blasting water into the wrong spot can be bad. Spraying it down lightly and carefully shouldn't be a problem.

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 3:15 am

Puddles attack from underneath, not from above. The car was engineered to handle puddles, but not necessarily to be in the rain without the hood.

THAWA · Post by **THAWA** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 4:42 am

So jack the car up and spray from underneath

But seriously the ole rag and squirt bottle is probably the safest, but i don't think a hose could do that much damage so long as you dont drench your engine. But then again what do I know?

HomeSlice · Post by **HomeSlice** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 5:06 am

Brat4by4 wrote: Water fairies come out and block all the evil water?

lol

georryan · Post by **georryan** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 5:49 am

hahaha Thanks guys.

entirelyturbo · Post by **entirelyturbo** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 3:44 pm

vrg3 wrote:Puddles attack from underneath, not from above.

I find it VERY hard to douse my engine bay going through water... I have done it a total of once. I was bored one night after a hard rain and saw a dirt semi parking lot near my workplace with a big puddle in it

I didn't know the puddle was THAT deep though

I dove into it about 10mph, which was good, otherwise I might have gotten stuck... The front end of my car was completely covered in water, past my windshield onto my roof

from the splash... It was quite entertaining...

Anyway, about 5 seconds later, my belts started squeaking really bad but I never got a CEL. Belts stopped after about 2 seconds. No other problems arose...

You just can't kill these cars

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 3:55 pm

Hehe... Yeah, a trip through some 6 inches of standing water in a parking lot appears to have started my pressure sensor on its downward spiral to its death. Those splashes that go over the car are so much fun, though! I wish someone had been outside my car to take a picture.

Post by **Legacy777** » Thu Oct 09, 2003 2:24 am

yeah I love puddle splashing too

I don't do it too much any more with the wheels and being lowered, but when the car was stock and I didn't have the snorkel out, I would make it my mission to go through puddles. I've done a couple big ones.......actually.....I lied.....last fall when I put on my spoiler I was driving from one buddy's to another and it just was freaking downpouring. That didn't stop me......the road had hwy portions, but then went to "off ramp" type things, then back on. Well all the water was collecting down there. I'd hit this massive amount of water at like 20 mph or so, and you could not see anything!!! the whole car would just slow down. We were nearing the road to turn off, and we heard this strange noise, Rob my buddy looked out the window and saw a piece of fenderwell plastic sticking out of the fenderwell!!! We stopped under an overpass and he stuck it back in. Apparently the water got up under the bottom lip and pulled it out of the mounting spots. We had to put big washers on there.....but that worked.

That was fun though

THAWA · Post by **THAWA** » Thu Oct 09, 2003 2:32 am

That sounds like so much fun. Ryan when you come down here, and if my car is working well we've gotta go find some crazy shit to runthrough

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Thu Oct 09, 2003 2:34 am

Awesome.

I know exactly what you mean about not being able to see anything and the car suddenly slowing down, too.

georryan · Post by **georryan** » Thu Oct 09, 2003 8:31 am

Ahh, the slowing down and not seeing anything...yeah....I've done that.

Sure thing Thawa, I'll be heading down Thursday or Friday (tomarrow or the next day) and I'll be down for the week. Friday is my mom's birthday so I may try and surprise her by not telling her I'm coming.

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So my engine is a little dirty...

So my engine is a little dirty...