Cleaning Engine Bay? How to?

[Lynx]

Hey, im not sure if this was posted in here or not but im wondering how to get my engine bay nice and clean. I know there are some cleaners out there that you spray on then hose off. With these types of cleaners what are the electrical items in the engine bay that you have to tape off or cover? Would some one be able to do a write up on it explaning the best way and best technique's for doing this? Any help would be great. Im hoping for some nice weather to do a little detailing on the ol CB7.

Thanks, Chad.

[ExplodingCake]

the basic would be using the engine degreaser. you have to cover up sensitive electrical parts ( alternator , exposed wirings , distributor etc.) then spray lil bit of water to remove dirt completely..

As for electrical , there are electrical cleaners that u can get at auto stores. I cleaned mostly all of my electrical contacts and grounds and works great.

[t_lude]

^^yep

[OwninUSince1902]

to clean the metal around in the engine bay grab some polishing compound or a finer type depending on how bad it is, ill post some pics of what i started doing and the difference it made was huge, there was aobut the 14 years of build up on it and once you put the polish on you can wax it if you really want to and that should prevent some future buildup

[puma01]

takes lots of patients my man for a good cleaning

[92DX]

First thing you should do is just use a 200mph leaf blower and CAREFULLY blow off the lose dust on the engine bay, watch out for anything that might get into your eyes. This would make the cleaning alot easier. And DO NOT clean while the engine is still hot.

[The G-Man]

Simple Green.

[LinX]

Steam cleaning is another way that is very usefull as well. It cleans and leaves no residue as some degreases do and clean up is even better.

[Lynx]

takes lots of patients my man for a good cleaning

I do XP tech support for Microsoft, cleaning the engine will be a brease :P

Thanks for the info and tips, should make for a fun day lol. I'll take some before and after pics too.

[3lblackout]

Wat you should do is go to a car wash where it says that they do motor wash. They wash your motor wid water n later they ad motor shine to it. Thatz wat im gonna take my car for a motor wash cuz mine lookz dirty. I think they use pressurized water gun, they spray gasoline to the engine where it is dirty n fill up wid spilled oil, then they wash it off and later they blow off the remaining water left on the engine bay wid a air compressor then they spray the engine bay wid motor shine n your motor will look like new. Over here in NYC cost about 14.95 to do a motor wash. My friend did it to a 95 camry, another friend did it to a 87 civic n they looked brand new

[Accord Type R]

Simple Green.

+1, water and a toothbrush, that's all you need. I did it after we ripped out the dead f22, it looked like new. Thinking of it I should of took pics.

[bruno8747]

Ok which one of the simple green? There is regular simple green and automotive simple green.

[Ghostyman]

Cleaning your engine bay is easy and quick.

First off, NEVER PRESSURE WASH YOUR ENGINE BAY. It can force water past seals and into places that it wouldn't otherwise wash. When I clean my engine bay, I use a garden hose with an adjustable nozzle and set it to "gentle shower" or whatever the softest setting is.

Use a spray bottle with Simple Green and water (whatever ratio you want) to spray down just about everything in the engine bay. The only thing you should have to cover is the distributor. Plastic grocery bags are perfect for this.

Use a whole spray bottle on the bay. Let it soak for about 15 minutes and then hose it off with (repeat after me) the gentle setting of the hose.

Repeat as needed if your engine bay is terribly dirty.

[Ghostyman]

Ok which one of the simple green? There is regular simple green and automotive simple green.

Simple Green Auto Degreaser is the stuff you want.

Also, if you want your bay to bling-bling after cleaning, pick up a can of tire cleaning foam spray. After you've used the SG and rinsed your engine, spray everything down with the tire foam. Let it disappear and marvel at the new shininess to everything in the engine bay.

I'll see if I have any pics from when I did this....

EDIT:

Pictures showing how effective just Simple Green + water is at cleaning:

Before:



After Simple Green (and ditching the Hide-a-key):



Now here are some shots of using tire foam to finish the engine bay

Before:


After tire foam:

[Lynx]

Simple Green Auto Degreaser is the stuff you want.

Also, if you want your bay to bling-bling after cleaning, pick up a can of tire cleaning foam spray. After you've used the SG and rinsed your engine, spray everything down with the tire foam. Let it disappear and marvel at the new shininess to everything in the engine bay.

I'll see if I have any pics from when I did this....

EDIT:

Pictures showing how effective just Simple Green + water is at cleaning:

Before:



After Simple Green (and ditching the Hide-a-key):



Now here are some shots of using tire foam to finish the engine bay

Before:


After tire foam:

Wow, looks good. So get some simple green and a garden hose with a mist setting. Im gonna give this a go after i put my car back together, lol.