Long Barrel Colt

I would like opinions on the best methods to clean/detail the engine compartment on my C6Z? Thanks In advance.

encasedmetal

you can either do the old school method of warming your engine, putting a bag over your alternator, spraying some soap (or simple green), agitating the visible dirt with a soft brush and rinsing with a water hose
OR you can use a steam cleaner, soft brushes and a towel.
It's not hard- get some cheap paint brushes to help with crevices etc, and make sure you're not leaning on your fenders and scratching them up while your cleaning your engine bay. Glass cleaner is really good for wiping down plastic parts once clean to remove any residue and leave them looking good. please don't armor all the hoses and plastic- that's for old men who don't know better

Tech

I don't recommend Simple Green. It can discolor aluminum. The method you choose to clean your engine depends how dirty it is.

Unreal

Cover airfilter with plastic bag. Spray everything with adams general purpose cleaner. Then pressure wash it all to a nice shine. Dry with compressed air.

z06clif

...it does screw up aluminium...Ive seen it first hand

Clif

C5 Hardtop

spray the **** out of it with a hi-pressure washer or a garden hose. But if you want to avoid problems from spraying water on it and have a clean engine, use a brush and a damp rag. Hit the plastics with the rag an the brush for the parts that the rag wont get. Keep it dry.

MasterDave

I hosed mine down a couple years ago and all hell broke loose. Wipers emptied themselves, wouldn't turn off, lots of codes thrown,...etc. I had to unplug and WD-40/air every connector under the hood to fix it.

Unreal

That just means you have a bad connector somewhere. If everything is in decent condition water will do nothing to it. They are all double or triple sealed weather pack connectors made to get wet.

juanvaldez

Quarter car wash. Everything under the hood is waterproof.

LMB-Z

Depending on how clean (or dirty), a rag (I guess I'm old, I still use Armorall), wipe down everything you can reach.

encasedmetal

/end thread

Desert Nomad

Yea, I'm a little paranoid about spraying water directly on this engine as sensitive as the electrical system is on this car. Although as "Unreal" pointed out above, I've had good luck with the Adams cleaner. A while back Adam's was holding a demonstration of his products out at West Coast Corvette. He chose my car to demonstrate his engine cleaner. It really came out nice and he did spray water directly on the engine, but I had no problems with it. But back home when I washed the car, I had the electrical system go nuts right after the wash and I didn't even open the hood. After it dried out it was 'ok'. So all I'm saying is proceed with caution when spraying down the engine.

Unreal

Then I suggest opening and inspecting all connectors, and using dielectic grease on them to keep moisture out.

Tech

Picture of engine bay?

outhouse

used that engine degreaser in a can from the parts store, and APC and all purpose degreaser, and then high pressure the whole engine bay down.


If you have issues getting your engine wet, YOU have problems. They are designed to get wet.




I would be tearing down my connectors looking for the weak link if so. As others pointed out.

2k Cobra

I let mine get pretty ugly then use Simple Green, about 30%, on warm engine then rinse off with a non pressure nozzle. I then blow excess water out with air compressor and wipe any excess off. When finished, I drive it to get full temp in the engine..

Lots of horror stories out there using pressure washers..

LMB-Z

Nothing fancy, but clean.

Desert Nomad

Yes, I figured it was getting into one of the connectors. So far I've eliminated all but two. The big one under the fuse box I believe is the culprit. I covered it with a plastic bag and after the wash didn't have any problems. Will pull it apart and di-grease it this weekend. A little history on this car, when I first bought it, I had all kinds of electrical problems. The dealer finally figured out it was the BCM and performed a Tech Bulletin where they tighten the pins and lube them. Wha-la, that fixed it. That said I'm sure they had a few of those connectors apart in the engine bay and probably disturbed or tore some of rubber insulation on the connectors.

Long Barrel Colt

Hey! That looks familiar...Heads?

LMB-Z

Yep...had the heads redone a couple of years ago...also added a small cam, headers, and tune. 525 rhwp.