Hi all. Wanted to find out how people are cleaning their engines out there. Can you spray the engine down with a water hose? Anything to be careful of? Has anyone used an engine cleaner (degreaser) with success? Thanks!!

 

I've been cleaning the engines in my cars and trucks for 40 years with engine degreaser at commercial spray washers. Never had a problem.

 

I've been doing it for years as well but it seems that the more electronic devices they add to them, the more sensitive they get to water contact.

 

I show my car often and have won many shows over the years, I am constantly asked at shows how I keep my engine looking so good. It is actually simple, I use a blower with my air compressor, found a nice long extending blower with a rubber tip so it allows me to get into any area needed. Make sure the car is cold when you do this. Next I will take a small and medium Adam's wheel wooly, wrap a microfiber towel around it, spray it with detail spray, and wipe the parts with it (Your fingers will thank you for using this method), then I use a dry cloth again on the wheel wooly to finish it off. I use a little Adams VRT on any exposed plastics and hoses. All total I spend 15 mins cleaning this area once a month. (I am not joking). It actually looks better than new. I have added smooth painted coil covers and had my supercharger cover powder coated, this does help keeping things nice and clean, but still use the same methods prior to installing these. I used to clean with high pressure water, etc. but found that it would cause stains when the engine warmed up with standing water in areas you wouldn't think of.

 

17000 miles on her and she has done multiple shows with the hood open, including the Intl Auto Show. This car also has plenty of rain time as well as dirt roads up at the lake. To date, I have had to do nothing more than a light wipe inside the engine with a dry cloth....mighty impressive IMO and I would never have expected that.

 

FOAM BLASTER...eheh

 

I would DEFINITELY NOT be hitting my engine with a high pressure sprayer and soap as this clown suggests. BAD ADVISE! Perhaps we might read the title of the thread before offering ill considered response.

 

I will do what I have been doing for the last 28 years. I will use a mixture of 50/50 mixture of water and Simple Green applied to a cold engine with a hand spray bottle. I will soak the complete engine compartment including the underside of the hood. Once it is applied I will let it sit for a while then use my garden hose to rinse off the mix. Once I am satisfied I have rinsed it thoroughly I will start the engine, close the hood and let the engine idle for about 15 minutes (screw the idling engine regulations) to evaporate the water out of the engine compartment. Then if I want the hoses to pop I will put a little ArmorAll on a rag and wipe down the hoses, however, that isn't usually necessary since the Simple Green usually gives them a faint sheen.

Don't use a pressure washer on the engine as you can get into some nasty problems. The reason I said 28 years was 29 years ago I learned about the problems of using a pressure washer first hand. I sprayed down the engine compartment in my newly acquired 86 and promptly forced water into a connector that didn't like having water in it. Result was a new throttle position sensor and a new mating harness due to the corrosion caused by the fluids that went where they weren't supposed to go.

The connectors under the hood will stand up to water pressure from a garden hose but not from a pressure washer or the washing wand of one of those spray car washes.

Bill

 

I used to have to open the cap and dry have to dry the points after a engine wash but that was 30 plus years ago.

Power wash away but I try to avoid the area where electronics are.

 

I'm a fan of simple green too. It works well on a cold engine and won't stain the aluminum like purple cleaner will. Can't go wrong with this method and a garden hose. The coil on plug ignition systems seem to be more resistant to water than the distributor caps of the past.

 

I use a foam gun or as Bill does simple green and let it soak. I then use a garden hose and blast off. I do this cold. I then use a leaf blower and get most all of the water off of every connector and crevis. Once I forgot this step on my 2003 Zo6 and started her up and closed the hood. The extra water turned to steam and got into some electrical areas it would not have. Was an issue then wouldn't start. So I always use the leaf blower w/ a nozzle end to increase the velocity and it works great.