I've heard that some people just spray their engine bay down with WD40 and let it fly...I wouldn't do that, but some swear by it.

Every third or fourth wash I dampen a MF towel with quick detailer and wipe it down. Best to not let it get bad in the first place.

I wouldn't take a power washer to it, you could distrurb enectrical connections and such.

 

*Moved to Auto Washing & Detailing*

When I show, I spray tire shine foam and wipe it down with a clean MF rag to even the shine out. Otherwise, I do as described above.

I will not under any circumstance use a power washer under My hood. It's worth the extra 5 minutes to do it by hand, knowing You will be able to drive away afterward.

 

Nice. Ive always used an MF rag on it, but wanted some tips and to see what you guys do. Thanks for the help!

 

Posted via FF Mobile You can clean it with a hose, just keep it on low pressure. It actually tells you in your manual how to clean it and what to cover. Not sure what engine you have but like for my zetec it tells you to cover the fuse box, air filter, and battery with a rag or towel. Then just lightly hose it down. I've done it a few times, had no issues. There is some sort of engine cleaner out there that auto stores sell, you can try that. Water is ok but will never get off the engine grim that builds up everywhere.

 

There is no distributor to worry about so I just use simple green and spray the hell out of it with a water hose. I always dry what I can reach afterwards so I don’t get water spots. The fuse box and air box are made to handle some water splash so I would worry about it.

 

Simple green or they got sprays at Autozone to hand clean the motor.

 

Will simple green work for cleaning the valve cover?

Ive had success with spraying tire shine on a rag and cleaning individual plastics like the intake, fuse box and such.

 

It can be use to clean everything in the engine bay. If you want to make plastics shine you do need some kind of plastic protector. I like to use wd40 to make and old engine bay shiny, but it does stink for a few days. I usually put the wd40 after washing the engine bay then wait for it to dry, spray the wd40 let it seat for a while and rinse off with the water hose. There are engine products that you spray and leave on to make everything shine but I have never tried any of them.

 

I "washed" my alternator by revving the engine and simultaneously pouring distilled water all over it, hoping some would get sucked inside to rinse out the coolant from a leaky waterpump. EAch time I do this, my battery light stops coming on intermittently for at leat 100 miles.

Of course, the bottom line is to replace the waterpump so coolant doesn't pollute the alternator and set off the batt light, but I have to fix my other daily driver first, so I'll have some wheels.

So far , so good.....

 

Simple green and son of a gun tire foam. Not too shiny, just NEW looking.

 

The only problem I see with doing a whole engine bay with WD40, is that it's flammable. Stuff like Simple green is also flammable, but that why they suggest to rinse the engine with a little water to dilute anything left that could be flammable.

I sopose you could just do the same when using WD40 for the entire job? But other stuff like the coil pack should be cleaned with a spray they sell at Autozone that makes it so static electricity dissipates and doesn't jump after cleaning certain electrical parts, I think starter and alt are something you want to clean with this spray?

I'm not sure about our coil packs but if the packs on my Buick get too dusty it will jump the electricity from dusty spot to dusty spot and needs to be cleaned every now and then with that spray.

 

The only problem I see with doing a whole engine bay with WD40, is that it's flammable. .

Not to mention that it is primarily mineral oil and will attract dirt

 

I spray dirty areas with simple green or dedicated engine wash and then hose it down. I detail for a living and been doing it this way for a while and never had a car not start after hosing it down.

 

i use tfr mixed 50/50 with water in a pressurised water bottle. then rinse with water alone in the bottle. my car looks the same as the day it came out of the factory (apart from the mods obviously).

 

Nice. Keep the tips coming guys!

 

I never hose my engine bay down, I just never let it get too dirty.
Heres what I do I either take these products..


1: Armor All (Never let me down)

2: Meguiars' Tire Shine (The best looking shine, I do once every 2 weeks)

3: Meguiars' Supreme Shine (Armor All alternative, I prefer it.)

 

Steps:
Have the engine warm
Cover any exposed connections
Simple green - mix with water 1 cup of simple green, 3 cups of water
Spray the solution on engine let it sit for 5 minutes
Get an old sponge rag and wipe the engine and dirty areas
Get the hose and with light pressure rinse engine.
Get tire shine (of your choice) spray on engine (plastic parts)
Close hood turn engine on for 5 mins
Open hood clean with rag any spots that pool up or are dripping
Enjoy a clean engine that you can eat off of!

 

I clean my engine, and many of my clients vehicles, starting with Optimun No Rinse. For the tuff areas, I follow-up with Optimum Power Clean diluted. Just take some good ol detailing brushes of get the built in stuff out. All you need to do is dry it off with some microfiber towels. The engine usually looks almost like new. If you wish, you can dress it up with Optimum Tire Shine that you spray on a towel.

After I have some people install the pullys in my Mazda, I will take some pics, before and after, of the engine.

 

Nice tips guys!

 

Here are pictures I took of my Mazdas engine that I cleaned yesterday. All I used, to wash the engine, Optimum No Rinse, Optimum Power Clean and Optimum Tire Shine. I used a few brushes to clean in the hard to reach areas. Used a regular white towel to dry off the areas.

I did not spend much time cleaning it. No water was sprayed on the engine. My car has over 45k miles on it and it's an '08.

 

1) go to a car wash bay
2) open hood, securely cover battery and fuse box with trash bags
3) start car - leave engine running
4) spray down with simple green
5) rinse with low pressure

 

Simple Green or foaming engine cleaner if it's dirty. I just dump the bucket of soapy water on the engine after I wash the car and hose it off, idea being if you don't let it get dirty in the first place then it's not hard to clean. The Focus has 87k on it, the wife's Taurus has 137k, and you can eat off the engine in both of them.

 

wiped mine down with seafoam deep creep and its sill clean and shiney and its been 3 weeks of winter salty, sandy, wet driving.

 

simple green is the best for cleaning engines. i like to use it straight. just spray it on a warm engine and brush the easy areas off. simple green will remove oil spills. and i finish with a silicone engine dressing. I don't have a brand name for the silicone, it comes in a big 5 gallon bucket, and simple green is a 40 gallon drum.

 

if using any water to get the large amounts off stay clear of the TPS and MAF, trust me on that one!

 

iv seen kats spray it with the water hose, something i wouldnt attempt. but id say use the spray foam. just the sight of them hoseing it down just make me cringe.lol

 

Another good tip is to protect electronics with tinfoil versus covering with garbage bags. The tinfoil conforms to the shape of everything. I also like Meguiars APC diluted 10:1. I find the simple green leaves some residue behind. I also like to use P21 total auto wash, a little expensive but works awesome.