Engine Wash Suggestions?

[Arctic-Rodz]

It had been raining quite a bit down here in south TX.

Got a lot of dirt/mud splashing in the engine bay from driving on those muddy ranch roads.

Need help on getting that engine bay cleaned up.

Throwing a stream of water under the hood is a concern to me since i dont know how to get into those tight spaces safely and not messing up any of the electronics (fuel injectors, wires etc)

The Vararam intake doesnt look as attractive with a dirty engine bay

Thanks

 

[kkreit01]

Some take a hose to it. I don't. I did back in the middle 90s, and electrical gremlins started. Now, I wipe down at every wash. Thus, it never gets very dirty. I would take a soapy bucket of warm water, terry cloth rag, and start washing by hand (wring the rag out so it's not dripping wet). You can use a dressing for the plastic/rubber parts afterwards (Stoner Trim Shine, etc.).

 

[charonblk07]

If it's really bad I'll take an air gun to it first to get rid of most of the loose dirt that's sitting around in places lik ethe A/C and alt pulleys, but I use water regularly.

If you take a hose to it, never use a jet of water, always use the fan spray. I do this all the time to mine spring to fall. I cover my intake filter, start with a cold engine, and don't spray 3 areas: battery, fuse box, PCM, the rest is fair game as the engine bay is designed to take a certain amoujt of water into it without damage.

After the rinse it gets a liberal dousing with Simple Green, another rinse after sitting for 5 min, then a heavy spray with Mother's Protectant, 10 min later it gets wiped down.

I will let the engine bay sit open for 10-15 min before I start the truck up and let the engine come up to temp, this will allow the engine bay to dry off most of the water before you start cranking it over.

 

[Arctic-Rodz]

Thanks ill be giving this a shot in a few days...

its not really bad but it does have some minor mud splats all around and on the intake manifold as well.

The Vararam is dusty at the most, i guess i could take it off too and give it a clean up at sell

 

[blackout11]

spray it down with 409 lets it soak then hose it off mines still spotless after 3 years

 

[Mr. Michael]

Tried a degreaser? Spray, let sit, use a little detail brush to get in the nooks and crannies, then gently hose off the residue. Check out detailedimage.com for a lot of great tutorials.

 

[12lowram]

I used to detail professionally for Dodge from 06-08 and in that time i learned that these newer motors can be nearly completely submerged (excluding alternator and various bits of electronics) and be completely fine to clean. The best thing you can do is to begin with rinsing off the heavy sediment with a pressure washer, second, use a strong degreaser (I prefer Purple Power as it's undiluted and works very well), third, use a pressure washer again and shoot the cleaner in BURTST so as to not "flood" the engine bay, you may use a brush or rag to wipe off any trim pieces that are obvious. Third and finally, start the engine and spray your favorite trim shine (armor-all, do what have you) and drive around for a few miles. Doing this will allow the shine to "bake" into the plastics and stay longer and at the same time lose some of the oilyness... Once you get home, use compressed air to blow out any remaining water, and now you can use a rag to rub in any splotches from the trim gloss, and now your engine will look brand new. By the way, try not to use the gel style engine cleaners because if they sit longer than needed or you don't rinse it all off, it can literally eat through platics and damage equipment. Hope this helps someone. One final note, do NOT spray the fuse boxes directly near harness, alternator, and any OPEN connectors, anything else under the hood of these new vehicles are water tight connectors that can be sprayed with a pressure washer from A DISTANCE, or directly for stubborn areas.

 

[Passt]

I have used Turtle Wax F21. So easy to spray on and forget about it. Engine still looks new after 2 years.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

 

[NYCruiser]

I always spray down with cleaner. Whatever is handy. Engine degreaser if its needed. Then rinse gently with water, no hard spraying. Then dry it out with a leaf blower. Detail last. Haven't had any problems on many vehicles.

 

[Lobster Poutine]

Step by Step Guide to Engine Detailing

ABSOLUTLEY REMEBER THIS TIP!!!!!
Do not wash the engine unless it is cool.

Preparation

Cover/wrap any electrical component that might get wet while washing with a plastic bag (grocery bag) or saran wrap. Parts to cover include the distributor, alternator, fuse box (optional) and any exposed wiring connectors.

Rinsing
In My opinion, a pressure washer is not needed and will only cause you grief. Using the garden hose, rinse the engine bay using low pressure. Just give a quick rinse of the engine bay, not blasting it, and keeping away from the areas of concern you previously covered. Go over each area of the engine and do not let the water run over the same spot for an extended amount of time. The goal is to just wet the area, and rinse any lose debris off.

Cleaning
Use a good all purpose cleaner such as Duragloss APC or Meguiars APC. Simple Green can be used, but it has been reported to etch aluminum....I haven’t seen this happen myself, but others have reported it so be careful.
Spray your favourite APC throughout the engine bay. Let the APC dwell for a few minutes and it will start to break down the oil & grease on its own. Next, grab some various brushes and sponges, (detail brushes, Daytona wheel brushes, tooth brushes etc.) and give the engine a good scrub. Easily accessible areas can be cleaned with the sponge. (underside of the hood, valve cover, exposed paint, etc.) The harder to reach and dirtier areas are what the brush is for. It's fine to spray on a little more APC on areas that you need to while scrubbing.

Rinsing
After you have finished scrubbing and the engine is degreased, rinse the engine bay, using low pressure and let the water run over the engine. You can do more scrubbing with the brushes, and even add a bit more APC to areas that you've missed or need a bit more work. Rinse thoroughly.
Drying
Do not air dry the engine. Using some old MF towels, hand dry each part of the engine bay you can reach. Also some compressed air works good here. Just be mindful not blow the water into unwanted electrical areas. . Unwrap the electrical components and use one of the more damp towels to wipe them down. Then dry them with another dry towel.

Plastic & Hose Detail
To dress and protect the engine and hoses and other under-the-hood plastic , look to use Sonus Trim and Motor Kote, or another top quality product such as Meguiar's vinyl & rubber dressing or 303 aerospace protectant. I personally like the Sonus product because it has never attracted any dust or dirt..
If working with any product except the sonus product, spray the dressing directly onto the towel and then wipe down the hoses and other plastic. The sonus product works a bit differently.

Let the dressing dry before driving, and I suggest leaving the hood open in the driveway in the sun for a couple of hours to ensure it is dry.
And that should do it. You will have a perfectly detailed engine bay worthy of any car show!
Here are a couple pics of the last engine i did with some products listed above.

 

[Jabalone]

Some great advice here. Makes me feel better about doing this when the time comes.

 

[Slidder]

Just a suggestion if you don't mind. Check this video out on Adam's wax homepage:
Engine Cleaning Video | Vehicle Detailing | Car Care

As it was said on here, don't use a high jet stream of water and don't use a pressure washer. That's where you can get into a lot of trouble. Adam's has another product called VRT. Extremely good for tires but can be used on any rubber hoses, etc. No really bright shine, just a nice from the factory look.

When using a hose, do put it on a spray or fan setting. I have found that the best way to first wet the engine and then spray off the soap is to hold the hose so you are spraying "downwards."

It is a little time consuming the first time you do this but if you are concerned about any electrical connections getting wet, there is a product you can spray on them that will stop any water from touching them. Sorry, can't remember the name.

Once you get the engine compartment thoroughly cleaned, clean it on a regular basis.

This product is fantastic for cleaning those hard to get areas. Detail Supplies In and Out Spray | Detailing a Car Might want to watch the video on this one too.

 

[Slidder]

As it is with any detailing product ~ exterior/interior and engine bay. No matter what product you use, it all comes down to "thoroughly" reading and understanding all of the instructions on the bottle or can, etc.

 

[Arctic-Rodz]

This thread lives on!!! ok, so i STILL havent done this engine wash since I started this thread but i promise to do in within the next few days. Still have a lot crazy weather going on in my area. We go from Summer to winter, fall and everything in the span of a couple of days.

I was looking at some videos and notice that the people doing most of the washes still have the factory engine cover on, including the video from Adams Polishes where that blonde girl does the wash on the Camaro engine.

Since mine no longer has the engine cover and has the bare intake manifold exposed and all that other stuff, is it still safe to spray water on those componenets?

 

[dpinvidic]

I use any kind of 409 type cleaner and HOT water.
Hit it with a toilet brush and then rinse.
I used to connect my hose to the drain valve on my hot water heater in the garage.
then I installed a hose bib on the top outlet of the heater.
This way, the cold water that comes into the heater stays at the bottom, and you get the hottest water possible.
I also made a spray wand with brake line tubing. just attach it to a female hose fitting and put it on the end of your hose. Bend the end at a 45 deg angle, AND flatten it a little to make a fan spray. you can get into all kinds of tight places with this.

Regards,

Dan

 

[dpinvidic]

This thread lives on!!! ok, so i STILL havent done this engine wash since I started this thread but i promise to do in within the next few days. Still have a lot crazy weather going on in my area. We go from Summer to winter, fall and everything in the span of a couple of days.

I was looking at some videos and notice that the people doing most of the washes still have the factory engine cover on, including the video from Adams Polishes where that blonde girl does the wash on the Camaro engine.

Since mine no longer has the engine cover and has the bare intake manifold exposed and all that other stuff, is it still safe to spray water on those components?

The engine itself is pretty much sealed...since you don't have oil leaks or vacuum leaks.
Cars now use "Weather-Pak" connectors which are water tight, so the wiring is protected.
With the air cleaner housing in-place, you can really squirt everything except the alternator, battery, and fuse box.

Driving the car after you wash the engine will evaporate any remaining water quickly....and you will have a very PRETTY engine...

Dan

 

[Arctic-Rodz]

I DID IT!!! finally got my engine washed. I used GUNK brand degreaser/cleaner and GUNK finisher/protectant.
Came out great!!

I took the Vararam off to have more space under the hood and double wrapped a plastic bag and held it in place with the metal band clamp that holds the vararam in place. Then another bag over the alternator and let it rip!




sorry for the crappy pics, the sunlight was making it a pain to get a good pic in there

 

[WarrenRam]

I know it's not so much popular but I have been power-spraying my engine compartments for many years and have yet to encounter any gremlins. (In fact, once such spray down helped me identify a hairline crack in the coil in my POS Taurus that helped end a very frustrating search for an intermittent engine misfire, but that's another story). I don't use the sprayer on full blast, of course. I use it from the day the vehicle is new, do it once a month except during hard winter cold, and all my engine bays look spot-free. I don't do a detailed shine up but I do keep it squeaky clean. I've heard a lot of pros and cons about power spraying so I speak only from personal experience. Take it with a grain of salt, just don't leave that salt on the truck. Spray it off!!

 

[dpinvidic]

I DID IT!!! finally got my engine washed. I used GUNK brand degreaser/cleaner and GUNK finisher/protectant.
Came out great!!

sorry for the crappy pics, the sunlight was making it a pain to get a good pic in there

The reason for the bad pictures is that your engine is so dam clean and shiny.

Dan

 

[Arctic-Rodz]

The reason for the bad pictures is that your engine is so dam clean and shiny.

Dan

HAHA