I bought m '02 Civic about 2 months ago and the ebgine really bothers me. The car is from up north (Massachusetts) and it seems as if it was driven in the snow/ice/sand/salt. The engine is very gritty looking.

How do you northerners clean your engines??/ Do you use the typical engine degreaser/cleaner or what? Is it cleanable? Also there seems to be surface rust on some of the bolts. How do you all recommend cleaning this? I am from GA and we obviously don't have to deal with this.

I thought that the dealer tried to clean it and did a bad job, but someone from up north looked under the hood one day and said 'it looks like the car was from up north and had been driven in the winter alot.' Thats when I realized, 'oh yeah the car IS from up north. Help me out, its ugly

 

Try some Gunk Green cleaner, its biodegradable, and hose of the crap. Most people will tell you to cover electrical connections, but thats up to you. If you use a fine mist with a hose it should be ok. Then get an old towel and wipe everything down.

 

gunk green is good, i have used it before

also i forget the name but there is some orange cleaner that works realy well also

use a plastic bag & cover ur distributor (just to be safe)
spray cleaner all over engine bay let it sit for 5 or 10 minutes

then respray again & clean, i usually use a push broom if its really bad use a scrub brush & muscle the dirt off

wen u done turn car on (if its not on already) & leave it running while u hose it down.
when im done i usually take off plastic bag & let it run for about 10 min
then hop in & drive around for a while

or just go to a detail shop & ask them to steam clean ur engine its usually $20-$25

 

Just cleaned mine after a power steering hose blew(see my other post) and I used regular engine degreaser. I did it at a friends shop and used the compressed air to dry everything off afterwards, don't let the water sit anywhere too long. It's as good as new now, nice and clean. I think that would do the trick for you. I hate to open the hood of a nice car and see crap under the hood.

 

My friend used to power wash his all the time. Engine was spotless. PM Eleanor for details.

 

thanks I will try to get that cleaned up. Crazy ppl around here said that it can't be cleaned