I'm looking to get my engine sparkling, currently it's disgraceful. Never done this so I was wondering if any of ya'll had tips for the c6, how to go about it. Are there any electrical components I'd need to cover, anything I couldn't hit with water or could I go about spraying it down? Thanks guys.

 

I have washed mine before and used only soap and water. I tend not to recommend any type of engine "cleaner" or "degreaser" since they tend to harm the hoses and belts.

I do go through and make sure that I actually dry the components of the engine as best I can and also make sure that there is no pooled water anywhere.

In doing this over many cars for many years, I have never had an issue with harming anything electrical.

 

I never spray anything under the hood. Just wipe it off with a rag and cleaner.

 

When I wash my engine before a car show, I cover all the electrical connections with aluminum foil. There are about 5-7 areas.

I hose it off lightly (you can put a little soap on it ), blow dry with my electric 110 mph leaf blower from Walmart ($20) and then hit the small stuff with a chanois or towel.

Don't blast it with water and no degreasers or simple green.


I actually do this everytime I wash the car, it doesn't take that long.

 

If you stay away from the major elec. components you can wash/rinse it no problem. I have been doing LS1 engine bays like that for a long time. Dry with an elec. leaf blower and use CD2 to dress it.

 

I've always done my engine by hand. I only use degreaser if need it anywhere on the engine. Doing it by hand is tedious and time consuming when you do it the first time. I'm really meticulous about it the first time. After that, it becomes much easier to keep it clean.
One product that I think may be well suited to clean my engine bay is 303 Aerospace Protectant. I was reading about it on their website, and it looks like something I want to try.
-Goose

 

Well, first of all I try to clean the engine compartment when I wash and/or wax the car. I'll use a household cleaner like 409 and a rag or paper towel to clean things up.

However, having said that there eventually comes a time when there are just too many dirty and oily nooks and crannies to get cleaned that way. Especially if the car is driven in the snow. Salt spray gets everywhere in the engine compartment. The only way you're going to clean the engine compartment is to hose it down.

I have done this on all my cars over the past thirty some years and I have not had any trouble. I spray the engine with Gunk. It comes in an aerosol can and you can spray it into all the hard to reach places. The electrical connections are basically all water proof so I don't take any special precautions for them. But common sense figures in. If the alternator is nice and clean, no need to spray any Gunk on it.

If there are any areas with heavy oil I'd get the cheapest paint brush Home depot sells and use it to work the Gunk into that area. For areas that are dirty, with say salt spray, I would just spray those areas with some 409 and use the paint brush to sort of work off the crud.

When done I spray the engine compartment. I have an adjustable nozzle that has settings like mist, stream, flat, etc. I set it on the flat setting and hose off the engine with light water pressure. There is no need to have a hard stream of water. The Gunk washes off easily.

Next, I have a pail of water with car wash soap mixed up and I wash off the front fenders and any area that got splashed with the water when I hosed off the engine. I have never had a situation where any of the chemicals used to clean the engine damaged the paint, but I figure why take any chances? Wash it off right away.

For a C5 or C6 I would snap off the valve cover/fuel rail covers so I could hose off those areas. I would not hose off the compartment the battery is in at all.

I just use a towel to dry off the engine, but I suppose blowing it dry with a leaf blower would work well. After that you can sort of detail the engine, if you want to. You know, wipe a protectant on wires and plastic parts.

 

I was told that Klasse AIO and Klasse Sealant were good to use for under the hood as well as 303. By doing it by hand seems to be the most controllable and gentle way to do it.

 

I love using Gunk spray on my other car it is easy and quick and I like the fragrance too but I did once short something out by cleaning the motor this way so that's why with the C-6 I'm kind of skeptical to do it the same way because the Corvette has just too many sensors, computers, BCM, PCM's.