How To: Clean your Engine Bay.

Jay Jay

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Cleaning your engine bay

The supplies you will need are basic and available in many auto and discount stores everywhere. I recommend using Simple Green over other engine degreaser sprays due to the non-toxic formula, which is safe for painted surfaces and the environment too. Think Green!

Simple Green cleaner or the new Simple Green Cleaner Degreaser

Mequiar's Natural Shine Vinyl & Rubber Protectant or similar product for rubber and vinyl

Soft bristle brushes small and large heads

Sponges regular and green scrubber type

Plastic grocery bags with rubber bands.

Water hose with high-pressure nozzle and bucket

Never-Dull or metal polish (optional)
Cover distributor cap, alternator, breather and air filter elements and engine bay fuse boxes with grocery bags and attach with rubber bands to keep in place.

Make sure all fluid caps, spark plug wires and dipstick are firmly in place to prevent water contamination.

Hose warm engine bay down including underside of hood with water. Use the high pressure setting to power away and remove loose dirt particles and any engine fluids on surfaces. Make sure to get the back firewall and under intake manifold and concentrate on heavy dirt deposits on transmission casing and drive axels.
[[[DO NOT! Spray HOT engine!!!]]]
For those of you that dont know why, well if you spray a hot engine, then you can crack your block and/or warp the head, and if you dont know anything about engine work, well your gonna pay a dime to get that replaced/repaired and be out of your car for several days.

Once engine is wet, spray thoroughly with Simple Green cleaner. Using more makes cleaning easier do really douse the engine bay. Concentrate on heavily soiled areas and oil stains. Use brushes to remove caked on dirt and heavy deposits. Don’t forget to wash underside of hood; use the sponges/scrubbers for painted area and rinse often to remove dirt particles from sponge. Rinse often and repeat this step as necessary.

Finally re-rinse the engine bay and hood completely and you should start to see a difference.

Remove all grocery bags and start engine immediately to dry and run a few minutes till water evaporates and all wire harness are dry.

Stop engine and spay all hoses and rubber parts with Mequiar’s Natural Shine Vinyl & Rubber Protectant spray. Use a sponge to even out spray on hoses and plastic parts in engine bay for a nice glowing like new shine.
Once cleaned you should be able to maintain a top-notch engine appearance year round with minimal effort and time. Use of a metal polish like Never-Dull on hose clamps, engine block/tranny, valve cover and other bare metal surfaces will also improve your engine appearance even more.

This is the way I clean my it's not the only way but just my efforts to eliminate alot of the same questions.
 


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