The engine bay in our "new to us" 1996 Integra looks like it has never been cleaned. Before we do anything I want to give it a good cleaning, but I am aware that some cars can experience electrical problems if you are not careful. My firend did a wash down of his Prelude and managed to cause some sort of failure in ECU that has plauged him for a while now. I don't want to cause anything like that. Does any one know what probelms I could create by hosing down the engine compartment of the Integra? Are there specific components I should stay away from with the water? (I know not to stick the hose into the intake.)

Thanks for your help.

Bill

 

make sure and cover ur distributor, intake air filter, and mostly all the sensors on the intake manifold..oh and dont forget the sensor on top of your charcoal canister (near your battery)..if that sensor shorts out, it can cause a short in your ecu..and both would need to be replaced! better safe than sorry!

 

If you want to as well cover the fuse box.
-Rik

 

Thanks guys. Thsi si just what I'm looking for.

 

I pressure washed mine after only covering the air filter and it was fine, but I guess you never know. I did get water in the spark plug holes which is expected, so be ready to get some paper towels down in the holes to soak some water up (or blow the water out with an air compressor). That caused my spark plug wires to go bad but they were old and worn anyway so I think that's the main cause, the water just helped them on their way. I was ordering new ones at the time anyway so it worked out good for me. Too bad now it looks the same as before or even worse after taking it in the mountains on dirt roads when I went fishing a few weeks ago. Oh and a couple tips if you're going to be pressure washing... be careful on the stickers on the hood and the vin stickers, and with the valve cover paint, if the washer is on a really high pressure. I chipped off some paint off my valve cover and accidentally washed off the vin stickers on my fenders.

 

just keep the car running when pressuring washing it. and don't spend too much time around the distributor and spark plugs. if have have intake then cover that up. but it should be fine. i do it to my cars all the time. cake it with degreaser, start the car up and go to work, and then load up on the vinyl dressing. make that engine bay bling.

 

thanks this helped me out too.

 

i spray my bay/oil area with brake part cleaners and rest of the bay i don't use any detergent i just boil hot water and pour all over it and it looks brand spanking new.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by super jdm yo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">just keep the car running when pressuring washing it. and don't spend too much time around the distributor and spark plugs. if have have intake then cover that up. but it should be fine. i do it to my cars all the time. cake it with degreaser, start the car up and go to work, and then load up on the vinyl dressing. make that engine bay bling. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Details please? Never heard of this.

 

what i do is turn on the car, give it some water, spray simple green max or just stragith simple green let it sit for a while depending on ur condition, wash it off, spray tire foam afterwards leave the car running for about 10-20min let the foam work in and give ir the shine. all i covered was my after market intake on a 94 integra and nothing on my rsx. and if u have an aftermarket alarm like i do. make sure to cover it. in my case if i dont when i lock the door you can hear theres water in there.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hatch_R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Details please? Never heard of this.</TD></TR></TABLE>

back when i was a detailer at a dealership. we would use a pretty heavy degreaser, it was called hawt dawg something like that. and then steam clean every possible area i could stick the pressure washer gun in. after that we use this stuff called vinyl dressing and caked the hell out of the engine bay. vinyl dressing is water soluble so when the water dries up it'll just leave the dressing. i've seen people use armorall, but from what i've seen it doesn't make the engine bay look wet, more like moist.

 

use a pressue washer...or a steam cleaner... have the engine running and like sweep over the engine a few times..and let it run/idle for a little while.. Ive always done that..never experienced any problems..ive never used any products though to clean it..pressure washers usually do the trick

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by super jdm yo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

back when i was a detailer at a dealership. we would use a pretty heavy degreaser, it was called hawt dawg something like that. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I worked detailing at an acura shop the stuff i used was called top dawg.

 

Over on the S2000 site we talk about using tire dressing under the hood. I'll have to go back and find that old thread.

 

tire foam gives it the shine.

 

doesnt running, washing it and letting t run after, leave spots?