Alright, brace yourselves, here's a real noob question. I'm wanting to wash my engine. It just looks dirty. Can I go ahead and just spray it down with a hose? And rub it down with car wash soap and a cloth? Or are there parts that shouldn't be sprayed down/soaped up?

 

Cover the distributer, fusebox, the 2 big connector bundles (on each shock tower) and intake filter with plastic bags. Then grab your pressure washer and go to town. Just don't use one of the 10,000,000,000psi jobs that will strip paint. 100psi is plenty. Spray down with simple green or citrus degreaser first and let stand if it's really funky. I do this a few times a year to keep the nasty stuff from getting too bad on my car. It works pretty well.

 

Screw covering the shock tower connectors or the fuse box. Spray it with simple green and use light to moderate pressure to wash it off. Don't concentrate the water on the distributor and avoid the air filter if you are using some kind of aftermarket intake with an exposed filter. Asside from that, you have nothing to worry about. I wash my engine about 5 times a month and have only had a problem when the dist cap oring was bad and with worn (loose) spark plug boots. When I worked at the dealership, we hosed down EVERYTHING and didn't pay special attention to anything. Never an issue.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hybrid96EK &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Screw covering the shock tower connectors or the fuse box. Spray it with simple green and use light to moderate pressure to wash it off. Don't concentrate the water on the distributor and avoid the air filter if you are using some kind of aftermarket intake with an exposed filter. Asside from that, you have nothing to worry about. I wash my engine about 5 times a month and have only had a problem when the dist cap oring was bad and with worn (loose) spark plug boots. When I worked at the dealership, we hosed down EVERYTHING and didn't pay special attention to anything. Never an issue.</TD></TR></TABLE>


thats only newer cars with weather proof wires nd connectors if im not mistaken.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hybrid96EK &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Screw covering the shock tower connectors or the fuse box. Spray it with simple green and use light to moderate pressure to wash it off.</TD></TR></TABLE>

That's great if you have a brand new car that has plugs full of dielectric grease and nitrile o-rings on the lids. For those of us with 8-15 year old cars, things are a little different. Caution is cheap and easy, and it keeps you from having to dry off your fusebox and dizzy with your girlfriend's hairdryer at 9pm on a Wednesday night because your car won't start after you washed the engine bay. Re-using Target bags FTW

 

i used gunk engine bright, works like a charm, i covered my itb openings, dizzy/plugwires and the fusebox and just sprayed everything down and let it sit for about 20 mins then took my hose and did work...came out nice.

 

I use this... http://www.1017.org/nsx/Engine...k.htm

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Relic1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I use this... http://www.1017.org/nsx/Engine...k.htm</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'll second the Gunk Engine Cleaner for nasty 'bays. When I first did mine, it took 2 treatments, but it got all shiny and sparkly. These days, Simple Green is good enough for most things. If the bay really gets filty tho, it's back to Gunk and the awesomeness that is it's cleaning power.

 

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

That's great if you have a brand new car that has plugs full of dielectric grease and nitrile o-rings on the lids. For those of us with 8-15 year old cars, things are a little different. Caution is cheap and easy, and it keeps you from having to dry off your fusebox and dizzy with your girlfriend's hairdryer at 9pm on a Wednesday night because your car won't start after you washed the engine bay. Re-using Target bags FTW </TD></TR></TABLE>

My 96 EK certainly isn't what I would call "brand new". Neither is my 97 Caravan or my 93 EG... or the other countless engines I have washed for customers/friends/etc. Each to his own. Caution is cheap, being paranoid though I don't think is needed.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dpaton &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Then grab your pressure washer and go to town. Just don't use one of the 10,000,000,000psi jobs that will strip paint. 100psi is plenty. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Meh, mine is 1700psi and it doesn't really work. It just kind of spreads the grease around without removing it. And it's really not worth the mess of being back-sprayed with grease and gunk. Solvents are really the way to go.

 

What kind of solvent would you recommend?

 

i used simple green and a bunch of elbow grease. the last time i used th gunk grease remover it ate at my paint in th bay so becareful if u use that stuff.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Lithel &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What kind of solvent would you recommend?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I wouldn't reccomend any solvent. Use simple green. You would be surprised how well it works. Other products may contain acids and other chemicals which will etc paint and aluminum.