crap! what to do about spilled brake fluid inside engine bay...
 

damn, pretty pissed. I was adding some brake fluid into the brake and clutch reservoir and some of it accidentally spilled into my engine bay right below the brake reservoir area, and I can't freakin' reach it to clean it up. Now I know brake fluid is a highly effective paint remover and damager so what can I possibly do to lessen the damage, if any? Does brake fluid actually strip paint to the metal or just visibly damages it a little? I was under the impression that the paint manufacturers use inside the engine bay is different than the kind they use on the exterior of the car so maybe the brake fluid won't affect that area at all? Anyone think a steam clean will do the trick? there is just no human way possible for me to reach the areas that got spilled on in the engine bay...thanks for any advice!... http://images.zeroforum.com/smile/mad.gif http://images.zeroforum.com/smile/emhammer.gif


[Modified by MugenHondaFormula1, 9:18 AM 2/17/2002]

Re: crap! what to do about spilled brake fluid inside engine bay... (MugenHondaFormula1)
 

dude, its no biggy
go to pepboys autozone etc type store, buy some engine degreeser, spray it all around. take a hose and rinse it off
no big deal
keep water off ur distributor and valve cover

Re: crap! what to do about spilled brake fluid inside engine bay... (sirhatchback)
 

thanks for the reply man, is there any specific degreaser you recommend or use?

Re: crap! what to do about spilled brake fluid inside engine bay... (MugenHondaFormula1)
 

hose it off with the garden hose.........

Re: crap! what to do about spilled brake fluid inside engine bay... (non-VTEC)
 

wipe it up.

Re: crap! what to do about spilled brake fluid inside engine bay... (MugenHondaFormula1)
 

Wash with water ASAP....

Re: crap! what to do about spilled brake fluid inside engine bay... (G)
 

rinse it off with water asap..

then go to the auto store and pick up some engine degreaser (simple green, Engine brite, whatever..it doesn't really matter..though some are biodegradable, you might want to try for those.) Spray it all over, and rinse it off. You might as well clean the entire engine bay with degreaser while you're at it.

Re: crap! what to do about spilled brake fluid inside engine bay... (MugenHondaFormula1)
 

brake parts cleaner will take care of it.

Re: crap! what to do about spilled brake fluid inside engine bay... (rtype11)
 

Rinse with water immmediately. Then if greasy use Simple Green or any other cleaner like that to remove the residue.

I've also had very good luck with "Coastal Cleaner" from AutoZone. While it says not to use on aluminum (I think Simple Green does too) it works exceptionally well at degreasing engines, just don't let it sit long on anything. Spray on, the brush problem areas quickly and high pressure spray off. Then for rubber items (after cleaning) I'd recommend some sort of silicon to relubricate them so they don't dry out and fail prematurely.

Re: crap! what to do about spilled brake fluid inside engine bay... (MugenHondaFormula1)
 

I would use some engine degreaser to clean those, and you better clean them fast!!

Brake Fluid would eat you paint!! Trust me, they will make your paint pill off!! I had that happened b4!!


[Modified by McLaren, 4:33 PM 2/18/2002]

Re: crap! what to do about spilled brake fluid inside engine bay... (McLaren)
 

Wow, thanks for all the replies guys. What I ended up doing was using pretty much a can of WD-40 to saturate the area that got stained on, let it sit for a bit and rinsed with a lot of water. It worked awesome! Before I did anything, the paint around that area was discoloring pretty quickly to a brownish poo stain but after the WD-40 and water rinse, the black color of my paint came back....whew. I also used the WD-40 to relubricate a coupe plastic hoses that were victims of the spillage as well. I guess you can add WD-40 to the list of effective brake fluid removers...thanks again for the quick help everybody...


[Modified by MugenHondaFormula1, 4:40 PM 2/20/2002]

Re: crap! what to do about spilled brake fluid inside engine bay... (MugenHondaFormula1)
 

Brake cleaner. Spray dat chit.