Good Day,

I need to locate a small oil leak. There is a place near me that does engine bay and undercarriage steam cleaning. I have access to a lift so I feel pretty confident in being able to get a general idea of where it's coming from if everything is spotless. I've never had a steam cleaning done on any vehicle and I am just wondering if there are any drawbacks or possible side effects to be wary of from the steam cleaning process itself. I'm trying to avoid putting any dyes in the engine if possible.

I'm still pretty new to cars. On a motorcycle I can do a leak down test to find most leaks as you'll hear where the air is escaping or engine oil will gush out of the opening. Is this a viable method with a car?

 

I would start by adding oil dye and seeing where it originates from. Dyes hurt nothing, but improper steam or pressure washing can cause a whole new set of issues. Coolant and oil dyes have been an invaluable diagnostic aid to me over the years on all kinds of vehicles.

 

High pressure hot water into wiring and sensors, what could go wrong

 

Appreciate it. I wasn't 100% sure. I ride my bike year round, water in the wiring all the time with no issues but wasn't sure how the car would handle it. Do you know if a leak down test would expose where the oil is coming from or is that only useful for cylinder/piston health in cars?

This is a pretty big forum. Go be useless elsewhere. Thanks in advance.

 

Or perhaps some type of spray engine cleaner( I think most are now environmentally safe ) and a garden hose rinse would be a much better choice.

 

I too would avoid steam cleaning. Brake clean and a rag is probably a better option. Us the dye. Common oil leaks are oil sender unit, rear main, front main, and less common upper and lower oil pan.

 

So this is an interesting question. I bought my 02 Z back in June and am doing winter projects on it. When I removed the decorative plastic covers over the valve covers it was dusty and dirty (not bad, but what you would expect for a car of this age). Is there a way to clean that area without doing harm. I was going to try just compressed air. There is not visible oil leaks but over time those surfaces just collect grime and it would be nice to get it clean again.

 

Compressed air and a cleaning tool attached to a drill works pretty well. Do a YouTube search for jr garage corvette c5. They just cleaned one of the worst engine bays I’ve seen. I still tend to avoid using a steamer or a hose on a motor. Far too many bad things can happen.

 

There was a guy not long ago that had his engine pressure washed by a detail company. on his way home the car began running rough
so he took it to a dealer.. when the dealer tried starting the car it hydrolocked and tore the starter off the block and did other damage

If your oil leak is in the back of the block it is probably a bad oil pressure sending unit

 

I'll repeat what the other posts said, steam cleaning can and will cause damage to your engine compartment. How's that you get it now

 

so the op is busting ***** after asking or help? Lol. I’d say this is pretty good advice op. Sometimes dumb questions get dumb answers even when you disagree. Lol.

 

It wasn't the message, it was how it was conveyed. I asked a legitimate question and it seemed like he was trying to be a smartass. As I stated earlier, plenty of threads out there. Feel free not to type in mine.

- I watched a video of a guy use a cleaner and then hit the bay with the water hose on the shower setting. Less of a rinse, more of a bath lol. Didn't feel comfortable with their method at all. Seems like it would work with water usage kept to a minimum though.
- Using brake cleaner crossed my mind. I've only ever used it on a bare case and pistons during a rebuild though. Wasn't sure how it interacted with plastics and rubber and I've read mixed opinions online. Definitely didn't want to test it on the Vette engine to verify.

Ill use the dye to try to locate the leak itself. I'll keep looking into the different methods for cleaning the engine bay for afterwards but will stay away from the steam cleaning. Appreciate the insight, fellas.

 

First of all, never use cold or hot high pressure water. As mentioned above, it will force water past seals and into sensors which "will" cause all sorts problems.

Here is how I've been cleaning my daily drivers and show cars for the past 25 years without any problems. Use low pressure hot water only. You can either use the drain on your hot water heater or splice into your washers hot water line. If you have an open element air filter cover it with a bag.

Make sure your engine is cool and then spray it down with hot water to remove some of the dirt and grime. Get a big spray bottle and put some dish soap, car wash soap and simple green in it along with hot water. Don't go crazy on the cleaners I'd say 80% of bottle is water. Spray the soapy water all over the engine bay with most of it on the really dirty areas. Let the car sit for 15 min to let the soap do it's work then rinse with hot water again. I've also had good success using the same method to clean the entire undercarriage.

Steve

 

I just completed this task yesterday (new to Covettes but otherwise a 30+ year car collector). Like all prior comments, my goal was to avoid high pressure, steam, blasts of water around sensors, chemicals that might not play well with plastics, paint, etc., and to generally minimize water and chemical interaction with and around the engine.

My car's engine bay was already pretty tidy, but certain areas around the front of the block and along the valve covers needed some clean up after 17 years of use by three prior owners. With a cold engine, I covered the alternator with a plastic grocery bag. Then, I removed the two engine covers. I also parked my car's front end over dirt so not to skank up the driveway or damage the lawn.

I used spray-on (pump action bottle) Gunk on the areas needing clean-up, let the Gunk soak for about 10 minues, and then scrubbed them with a tooth brush. To rinse, I used a spray fitting on my garden hose dialed to a very soft misting spray that was low pressure and allowed directional control. I rinsed and repeated a second time. Then, I patted down the engine and engine bay areas as much as possible, fired up the engine and let it idle for about 10 minutes, went on a freeway run (70 mph for a few miles) to blow dry, parked it and finished drying remaining areas with the engine off. I used a paper towel wrapped on a wood skewer to soak up any water remaining in crevices.

 

welcome to the internet. Use a damp rag and do it by hand. Finish with adams polishes vrt.

 

This may sound crazy but I've been using scrubbing bubbles shower cleaner and compressed air for years,all my engines look like new.

 

Op could stand a little desensitizing. Have a sense of humor man.

Don't wash the motor. It's a recipe for disaster. It's really quite simple, If you've got fluid leaking out, fluid is gonna leak in. Never mind the guaranteed disaster pending when you wash the wiring connectors. They're sealed to protect against a splash of water, not hot pressurized cleaning.

 

Make sure you cover the pcm and tac module with a plastic bag or you will be stuck if they get wet,been there done that,and I don't see any problem washing the motor just don't get to crazy and if possible bring a back blower with you and dry the top of the motor off as much as you can

 

Has anyone tried doing a light pressure wash using standard rubbing alcohol instead of water? Yes it is more expensive, but the alcohol would clean better and dry much quicker than water or other detergents therefore causing no or less problems???

 

How would you pressure wash with rubbing alcohol? It might clean metal pretty good, but it's bad for plastic and rubber and certain paints.

Steve