Best Way To Clean An Engine

[dorfmac]

Originally Posted by rozay

Best time is when the engine is warm and not cold... it'll help with the cleaning... i clean my engine every 3months or so

Sent from Galaxy Note 4

Not true - just like you don't want to clean wheels when they are hot, you do not want to do the engine bay. Let it cool completely. Just one example - spraying chemicals onto warm components can alter their effectiveness, lead to staining, etc.

[Bizaro]

hose it down

[myold88]

Originally Posted by ihaveacamaro

Couple things:

1) OP asked for the best way to clean. You want to clean the best, you got to use the best tools. There's no way you're getting in crevices and cleaning all the dirt and grime without brushes. They aren't too expensive btw, but if you use cheaper tools, I wouldn't blame you. In any case, you have to use something. Cleaning without agitation is not cleaning. At least for anything more than light dust.

2) it's meguiar's d101, hardly expensive. Plus you can use or to clean exterior trim, tires, gas cap area and safe for interiors when diluted. Not expensive and tons of uses.

3) That's not a nozzle. It's a shut off valve. You can substitute with a normal garden hose sprayer if you want.

4) as far as the water, if you're working on an engine bay that's actually dirty, you're not going to be able to get away with just a light mist. The amount of water used is ok.

I don't think you read my post (#2) or looked at my photo. I use a good quality soft 1 1/2 inch paint brush. It gets in all the nooks and crannies and cleans just fine.
That same brush is perfect for cleaning the factory wheel lug nut holes and the
inner wheel area.

[SSNYSTR]

Gave it a shot today, used some compressed air to get all the dirt and stuff off and then gave it a little more than a mist with the hosepipe and then sprayed the simple green on it and used a couple brushes to get to some places. Did this twice and then sprayed some No Touch tire cleaner on my engine cover and a couple other things. Not the best, but still way better than before.

[JTruck]

Looks good. I'm hoping you covered up the air intake, alternator and fuse box?

[SSNYSTR]

Originally Posted by JTruck

Looks good. I'm hoping you covered up the air intake, alternator and fuse box?

Air intake and fuse box, yes. Alternator, no. I did not. No problems though.

[Jalberdi99]

Originally Posted by dorfmac

1. Start my bagging off anything you don't want wet - exposed air filters, fuse box, battery/terminals.

so, basicly bag everything with the yellow circle, right? i have a CAI, not the stock air box thing.

[SSNYSTR]

Originally Posted by Jalberdi99

so, basicly bag everything with the yellow circle, right? i have a CAI, not the stock air box thing.

I bagged 2 out of those 4 lol. For the fuse box, I opened it and laid a bag over the fuses and closed the cover.

[CRF8]

....back in the day (1970s), you drove to a car wash, covered the distributor cap, sprayed gunk cleaner all over the engine, and pressure washed it !!
NOT a good idea today !!

[RedDragonSS2.0]

Compressed air to get the loose stuff out, followed by a misting with the hose, spray 88 degreaser (cheap $5 gallon) clean all areas with brush of choice rinse off with hose preferably with a mist head to limit amount of water in there. Once done get your leaf blower turned car dryer and push out excess water. If your happy with just a clean engine bay go no further, if you want it to shine up spray armor all liberally to all areas you want to shine up close the hood and set oven to bake lol turn the car on for 5-10mins while you work on something else. I do this every 2/3 months depending on how dirty it gets.