Tips: How to Clean your Engine Bay

Raid3n · 01-06-2011, 07:36 PM

Tips how to clean your engine bay and it yields great results.

First off, do not wash the engine unless it is cool. (ie. you could leave your hand on the headers and it's not warm)

Materials Needed

a sponge
a cleaning brush of your choice (nothing too abrasive, I use an old toothbrush)
a bottle of simple green diluted to 30/70 (simple green/water)
saran wrap
garden hose
some clean 100% cotton towels
Meguiar's #40 professional vinyl & rubber cleaner/conditioner

Preparation
Cover/wrap any electrical component that might get wet while washing with the saran wrap. Parts to cover include the distributor, alternator, fuse box (optional) and any exposed wiring connectors.

Rinsing
Using the garden hose, rinse the engine bay using low pressure. You basically are letting the water run over the various areas of the engine bay, not blasting it. Go over each area of the engine and do not let the water run over the same spot for an extended amount of time. The goal is to let any loose dirt run off. The heavier dirt is taken care of in the next step.

Cleaning
Spray the diluted Simple Green throughout the engine bay. Give any really dirty/greasy/oily areas a good dousing. Let the Simple Green sit for a minute or two. It starts to break down the oil & grease on it's own. Now it's time to give the engine a good scrub. Easily accessable areas can be cleaned with the sponge. (underside of the hood, valve cover, exposed paint, etc.) The harder to reach and dirtier areas are what the brush is for. It's fine to spray on a little more Simple Green on areas that you need to while scrubbing.

Rinsing
After you have finished scrubbing to your heart's content, rinse the engine bay. Again, use low pressure and let the water run over the engine. You can do more scrubbing with the brush on areas that you've missed or didn't scrub as well as you thought initially. Do not stand there with the hose in your hand and water running into your engine while doing the scrubbing though!

Drying
Do not air dry the engine. Using the towels, hand dry each part of the engine/bay. Unwrap the electrical components and use one of the more damp towels to wipe them down. Then dry them with another dry towel. Hand drying ensures two things. It prevents water from sitting and seeping into places you do not want it. It also makes sure that each part is indeed clean and will not have any water spots. After all, you wouldn't let your car air dry after washing it, so do the engine bay the same courtesy.

Plastic & Hose Detail
To get your hoses and other under-the-hood plastic looking in top shape, use the Meguiar's vinyl & rubber cleaner and a clean dry towel. To avoid overspray, spray the cleaner directly onto the towel and then wipe down the hoses and other plastic. (ie. stock intake tube)

Once you have gone through the entire process, you will have a show quality engine bay that you can be proud of and your friends will envy. (Although, I've seen some dirty engine bays at car shows) For true car show appearance, a good quailty polish can be used on the painted areas of the engine. Finsh off by polishing your polished metal pieces with some metal polish and your engine will be sparkling.

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Shanook · 01-08-2011, 06:41 AM

nice write up, i'm too lazy to clean my engine bay and its still spotless from factory =p,

when i put my intake in i cleaned most of it up with a wet towel and that made me happy lol, but i think i might clean it this summer =) i'm going to start to take it to shows more often

Raid3n · 01-08-2011, 10:24 AM

thanks dude...

aznwade · 01-09-2011, 10:50 PM

nice.. thanks for sharing..

T3GZ · 01-19-2011, 12:05 PM

There is a much simpler way, ive detailed for a good protion of my life

1) leave engine running
2)cover distributer
3)spray alll kinds of engine degreaser, preferably mixed with a hint of mag acid
4)let sit of 5 seconds
5)pressure wash it like crazy
6)repeat till desired cleanliness
7)spray armor all on all the plastics
8)smooth it out with air (be careful not to get water on it)
9) u have a brand new engine

oh and if u have chrome dont put any mag acid