I'm about to wash the engine bay of my car and wanted to see what parts I should cover or remove before I spray down the engine bay for a good cleaning?

I will be using Simple green to wash away the dirt and grime then using a power washer to rinse it through. When I washed my integra bay I took the battery out and covered the distributor with a plastic bag and that was it.

 

If you have an air compressor handy and try to dry off all electrical connections, fuse box wire connections before you hook your battery up it should be ok.

I don't disconnect anything on my cars but I like to blow off everything I can see before I start the car.

You can just let everything dry for a day or for a few hours, if it's warm and dry outside in the sun is also good.

 

Sounds good. Thanks for the input.
Anyone else?

 

You shouldn't have to disconnect anything... just blow all connectors dry afterwards. The fuse box should be kept dry, either wash it by hand or cover it...other than that, have at it...

 

If you warm your engine and then spray the areas you are going to wash with simple green and let it sit for a 1/2 hour or so, you can get great results just using a garden hose with a nozzel that is able to give you a strong spray.

The more grungy areas you can spray a little more cleaner on, or use some purple cleaner from walmart I buy there brand rather than the castrol works just as good.

You don't need a car wash spray or a pressure washer to get good results, I have done a few in my driveway in summer.

 

I wash the engine bay once per month, i never take out or cover anything, i generally don't let it dry for more than 5 minutes after driving it back home. In the older cars that had distributors yes you would need to cover the wires and dizzy but not anymore.

For added bling i apply a light coat of tire shine to the plastic parts

 

Sounds good. Thank you guys

 

I've heard of applying silicone or wd-40 on the electrical stuff to repel the water away, but if everyone else says dont it should be ok.

 

Your car is a 09'. I want to see the engine bay as why you want to wash it.

 

Salt man, mine is a 2010, after the first snow salt had splashed up in the engine bay, and it's just nice to have a clean engine, being able to pop the hood and knowing my engine is clean is like having clean underwear on, only few people will see it but the ones who do are the ones that count... lol

 

That explain it. Actually it's a good idea to wash off left over salt. Future rust FTL

 

i pressure wash my engine bay every 2-3 months, no issues yet. i do 303 on the plastic and rubber instead of tire shine though haha.