Alright so I was washing my car the other day, and wanted to give the engine that "off the lot" look. Here's the run down, and how things went.

<U>Items Used:</U>
Greased Lightning 4:1 in a Hot Wheels Foaming Spray Bottle
H20 in Walmart Bottle
Megs Hyper Dressing 3:1 in a Walmart Bottle
Megs Last Touch Detail Spray 1:1
Wheel/Tire Brush
Toothbrush
Walmart Paint Brush
Microfiber


Time Spent: 30minutes

1. Some people like to work with a warm engine, but I have no problem working with a cool engine. Either way works, for me, its more the time you spend / effort put into the project.

2. If you have bad aim, line your surrounding car body parts with plastic. Then spray degreaser around your engine.

3. As you are letting the degreaser set work on the bottom of your hood, and top of the bumper. Use your detail spray to get that grime off the bottom of the hood and top of your bumper. Here is some of my progression.


4. Go back to your engine, and work by sections. Agitate the degreaser you already sprayed. Clean it with water, then respray if neccesary. I use the toothbrush and paintbrush for hard to reach areas. I use the Tire brush for the easy to reach areas, and a microfiber with soap/water as round 2 to the tire brush.

5. Once you have finished cleaning all the areas of your engine bay, make sure you rinse it with H20 in a spray bottle. (I never use the water hose to rinse the engine.) Let the engine dry.

6. Make sure your engine has cooled down. Spray your diluted Hyper Dressing liberally in the engine compartment. I found that Hyper dressing 3:1 gives you that OEM clean look. (I can't remember waht goes first, product or water, but I use 3 parts water 1 part Megs HD.)

7. Let the HD set for 3-5 Minutes. Come back and wipe it down with a microfiber towel.

8. Enjoy

Before:






Cleaned:






Dressed:






My 59cent secret brush.

 

thank god for the person who made the small "chip" brush.

looks good

 

end result looks good, but you CAN use a hose. Take 30 seconds to remove the battery, wrap the fuse box in saran wrap, and get to work. all the plugs in the engine bay are water-resistant, so as long as you're not completely submerging them in water, they're perfectly fine. I've done this multiple times without a single problem.

 

removing the battery is overkill.

 

ill post up a better cleanup for y a trick is back to black by meguires extreme attention to detail a rag qtip and pressure wash to finally 7000 and still showroom in and out

 

so what makes your way "better"?

It doesnt take much to make an 08 car clean...........

 

SoCal EJ1 - I didn't say you couldn't hose the engine, I said I never do. I think completing this by hand is much safer, especially for most of the people on this board, I don't want to saran wrap or remove my battery I prefer to do it this way. It only took half an hour to do everything. I just finished an engine tonight that was pretty dirty, and it took an hour. I would much rather do this than risk getting parts wet that I want to keep dry.

92h22civichatch - Back to Black is a Mothers product, and it is made for trim, not engines. I prefer not to pressure wash my engine, I would rather detail it by hand.

The reason I had posted this was so people could learn how to detail their own engines without having to worry about it not starting after they were finished. If you would rather pressure wash it that is fine, I have just given you a fool proof alternative.

 

well, car makers know engines will get wet so its really hard to do any damage, unless you are being a jackass and spraying directly into electrical components. but a low pressure "shower" setting is fine for 99.9% of engine bay parts. But if you buy a car brand new and stay on top of it, you w ouldnt really need water...

 

I'll hose my engine down but I'll never pressure wash an engine just because the amount a pressure that a pressure washer can produce which can cause some serious damage to certain parts of the motor.

 

sorry mothers is what i meant brain fart, and i meant for the trim in the engine bay. dc electrics no need for saran wrap. proper mechanics means no water worries on electrics(dilectric grease all connections ever removed enables longevity trust me on electrics ritop grad). pressure washers that are quality are adjustable also for pressure. i detail more engine bays then your average honda-tech member and have had plenty of show cars your wasting too much time trying to clean completely by hand.

 

lol u guys r funny. i have over 3 years of experiece of cleaning cars mainly engine bays u dont have to take the battery out or cover anything up. best thing to do it get all purpose degreaser and spray over everything than take a few different size brushes to scrub different spots. a wheel brush is very handy. and a sponge sometimes. scrub it very good than spray the suds off with a water hose than use a blower or air hose to blow out the water from all the sensors, cracks, holes, and any other area holding water. compelty dry it off than use a detail spray, i use a thing called instant spray, cant buy it just anywhere i get it from an ardex guy. ardex is very nice stuff. and spray that on everything make it shine very nice let it sit for a couple mins spray it again. than after a few more mins wipe it all dry and it should have soaked into it and made it look like it was just out of the showroom..... i worked at honda detailing for too long.