what would be the best and safest way to clean under the hood? i got some of that engine cleaner, so do we just spray it everywhere left it sit for a few minutes, cover the intake filter, cover the alternator, cover any bare wire-then just rinse it off at the car wash? anything else to cover? better to wash with just towel? too much pressure at the car wash?

 

cover the distributor cap, alternator, intake filter if it's a SRI or non-stock... Try and avoid hitting electrical aspects in your engine bay if possible. I've pressure washed my car before and it looks great afterwards. Make sure your motor is cold though, you don't want to crack your block.

Then use soap/water and engine de-greaser in copious amount and then rinse and wipe dry or let dry. Use WD-40 on the painted areas of the engine bay to give a really nice glossy sheen.

 

i dont know if a carwash would be that effective? if you pressure wash it, just dont hold it 2 inches away from everything, give it some room. but the safest way and most effective way, which also takes the longest, is to just take a rag to every thing and remove some things in the process to get the nitty gritty

 

i took my motor out which took about an hour with a picker and spent about 8 hours unbolting everything and used household degreaser and a took brush. then i used quik detailer on the whole thing. it looks amazing

 

I WOULDN'T USE WD-40 IT'S BETTER IF YOU USE SOME STP AFTER YOU CLEAN IT, SPRAY IT ALL OVER THE ENG. BAY ON THE MOTOR AND WIRES,HOSE ETC... THEN CLOSE THE HOOD AND START YOUR CAR AND LET IT RUN FOR 10 MINS. THEN POP YOUR HOOD AND BAM, IT LOOKS LIKE NEW, IT LAST FOR TWO WEEKS OR SO, USED TO DO THAT **** WHEN I SOLD CARS. f*** THAT TAKE OUT YOUR WHOLE MOTOR ****, THAT'S JUST **** LOL

 

after you wash it, spray wd40 in in all of your electrical conections. that will get rid of any water that might of got into the plugs. thats what the stuff was originally made to do, displace water. but if you just spray it on your motor, its just going to let the dust and dirt stick right back to it

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ke98248 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">cover the distributor cap, alternator, intake filter if it's a SRI or non-stock... Try and avoid hitting electrical aspects in your engine bay if possible. I've pressure washed my car before and it looks great afterwards. Make sure your motor is cold though, you don't want to crack your block.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yep, listen to this man! Cover your dizzy, alt, and filter. Don't forget to DISCONNECT YOUR BATTERY. Do not reconnect it until everything has dried to prevent shorting a connection. You can also try using some dielectric grease on your connections AFTER you've cleaned everything, or using vaseline BEFORE you clean everything (or do both!)

It's well worth it, clean motor is the sex.

 

If you wanna shine things up get some Motul Shine & Go. It's for plastic and rubber. However, it's not so good for conditioning plastics the way Mother's does because it doesn't soak into the material, rather it puts a coat over it to prevent dirt from bonding with the material (like what wax does for your paint) but from a purely aesthetic standpoint it gives it a really reflective, glossy look. I've used it on wires, resevior caps, radiator hoses, fan housings and so on, and I'm very pleased with the results.

 

spray the engine down with degresser or formuala 88 (same thing ) let it sit for few min and then hoes it off./...( DONT HIT THE , ALTERNATER OR DIST CAP WITH ALOT OF WATER)........then SPRAY WD-40 like their no tomorow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Here's a hint...

If you bought your car used, they probably already did this at least once. Here is exactly what they do.

1 - Start car up.
2 - Drive car to wash bay.
3 - Keep car on.4 - Spray degreaser on front end, front bumper and behind each wheel.
5 - Spray wheel cleaner on wheels.
6 - Spray car with pressure washer to wet it.
7 - Wash car with giant nylon brush.
8 - Spray off with pressure washer.
9 - Pop hood.
10 - Spray degreaser on engine bay and any place under hood that looks dirty.
11 - Pressure wash engine bay. Don't spray right into intakes, batteries or distributors.
12 - Drive car into garage.
13 - Dry car with towels.
14 - Use air gun to dry engine bay and joints around car.
15 - Vacuum car.
16 - Wash inside windows of car.
17 - Use interior dresser to wipe down all interior plastics.
18 - Place paper mat on driver's floor.
19 - Dress tires.
20 - Put dealer advertisement tags on font and rear of car.
21 - Drive car out to lot.
22 - Leave keys on board in the lobby.

Seriously. And I never saw any car so much as stutter. They look great too. Rarely do they use any dressing on the engine bay. Most will just make a mess anyway.

 

^ sounds good to me, but I would worry about cracking my exhaust manifold.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by t0p_sh0tta &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">^ sounds good to me, but I would worry about cracking my exhaust manifold.

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Think of it this way... These cars just got turned on. They're often not even warm enough to make steam. If we crack a manifold, the dealership has to buy a new one before they can sell the car.

The dealership tells us this is how they want the cars cleaned. This wasn't just one dealership either.

 

That's understandable. I was under the impression that you were recommending the OP follow the same steps. This would be fine, but you don't want to damage anything by feeding hot metal a steady supply of cold water.