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Cleaning The Engine.

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Old Jan 20, 2006 | 12:13 PM
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Default Cleaning The Engine.

I am trying to clean my engine, It has become extremely dirty over the past few months. I know I'm not supposed to power wash it because of the opti, but does anyone think it would hurt if I used one of those steam cleaners.
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Old Jan 20, 2006 | 12:16 PM
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I remommend orange blast and lots of rags.
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Old Jan 20, 2006 | 12:36 PM
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don't hose it
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Old Jan 20, 2006 | 02:49 PM
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I have hose it, car wash it, steamed it, simple green it, all of the above. The only trouble I had was the transmission would not shift. I figure water evaporates so I let it idle for 30 minutes and the problem went away. Other members recommend that you use a "landscape blower" to push the water off the engine.
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Old Jan 20, 2006 | 03:08 PM
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Yeah, you can steam clean, just be careful where you apply pressure water - like the distributor, air intake system, sensors. With steam cleaners, with such hot water, you don't need much water pressure. And I have known steam cleaners which will actually strip paint if you aren't careful. But they sure get things clean!
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Old Jan 20, 2006 | 03:14 PM
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Well I just ordered a steam cleaner so we'll see if it works like they say it does when I changed my opti out, the engine got greased over pretty good. I'll try to take some before and after pictures. I've never had so much trouble trying to clean an engine.
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Old Jan 20, 2006 | 08:47 PM
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I usually simple green it and then hose it. When it is really cruddy I simple green it and then pressure wash it. My opti gets wet however, I don't let a solid stream hit it. (Same as another other distributer solid stream = wet ignition)

Mike
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Old Jan 21, 2006 | 08:35 PM
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It really depends on what engine you've got. The L98's are pretty resilient to power washing and/or steam cleaning. The mid 90's with the Opti are much less forgiving. If it were me and I had an Opti, I'd do it all by hand.
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Old Jan 21, 2006 | 08:42 PM
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Originally Posted by 85 500 horse
It really depends on what engine you've got. The L98's are pretty resilient to power washing and/or steam cleaning. The mid 90's with the Opti are much less forgiving. If it were me and I had an Opti, I'd do it all by hand.
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Old Jan 21, 2006 | 10:48 PM
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citrus degreaser rags and sos pads for the aluminum hit plastic and rubber with armoral if you want to show it off at a car show
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Old Jan 22, 2006 | 09:54 AM
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Originally Posted by 85 500 horse
It really depends on what engine you've got. The L98's are pretty resilient to power washing and/or steam cleaning. The mid 90's with the Opti are much less forgiving. If it were me and I had an Opti, I'd do it all by hand.

I have a mid 90s with an OPTI (1995) and here is what I do about once a week with no drama. The earlier OPTIs may have trouble however, I am not convinced that the problems are as rampant as reported on the internet.


Originally Posted by aboatguy
I usually simple green it and then hose it. When it is really cruddy I simple green it and then pressure wash it. My opti gets wet however, I don't let a solid stream hit it. (Same as another other distributer solid stream = wet ignition)

Mike
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Old Jan 22, 2006 | 11:11 PM
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Originally Posted by aboatguy
I have a mid 90s with an OPTI (1995) and here is what I do about once a week with no drama. The earlier OPTIs may have trouble however, I am not convinced that the problems are as rampant as reported on the internet.
I'm glad this has worked for you. I've read too many horror stories from people, especially owners of the 95 model, whose Opti became trashed when it was sprayed with water.
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Old Jan 23, 2006 | 10:30 AM
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Well I have a 1993 LT1 I am going to use the steam cleaner, but I will be very very careful and wipe it down as soon as possible. I don't want to replace my opti again it's too expensive.
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