engine cleaning

engine cleaning

ok, i want to clean my engine major style... using those spray kind stuff... engine brite i think... i just want to make sure what spots i need to watch out when spraying the engine with high pressure water to rinse off the cleaner...
this pic i took the day i got it from the dealer... it looks clean but now its really messed up... and the other differnece is that, i got a SRI... thats it... oh and should i watch out for the alternator too?



and if someone can edit the pic and highlight the areas i have to watch out, that would be great!!!! thanks dudes!!!!

I want to clean my engine bay too. I want to return my engine bay back to that^.

Make sure engine is cold. Spray either Simple Green or Grease Lighting all over the engine and underside of the hood.

Starting on the underside of the hood take the pressure washer and start spraying.

Careful not to get too much water around the alt or intake.

When done spraying, start car to make sure its working.

Shut the motor off, then dry. Too clean it more take the cleaner you used to do spot cleaning and then on the plastic use Armor All.

This is my engine bay after using this method 70+K and still looks brand new:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/Rolla02/My Car/Picture_013.jpg

Did you mean this? lol


put plastic bags around the alternator, horn, and anything electrical that you see a harness, also wrap a plastic around your air filter, you don't want that to be soaked in water. spray simple green, then wait about a minute or so then spray it with water, when done, just wipe it dry, usually any loose dirt left behind can be gotten when you wipe it dry.

I didnt wrap anything, just was being really careful

In theory, if you disconnect your battery and just make sure everything has dried very well, there shouldn't be any problems getting the alternator wet, correct?

Yea you should be alright, as long as everything dries completely. However with an alternator or other partially enclosed sensors/items like that, you might end up with some water in that just wont dry out very fast (ie it might take a couple days for it to dry, whereas most people will start it up within an hour)
So for the 20 seconds that it takes to wrap the alternator, and then clean it later with a cloth or something, I think it's well worth it.

silver_nitrate: what did you use to wrap your hoses there? (ie where did you get it and what is it made of?)

those are just apc silicone hoses that you can get off advance auto parts. I originally plan on using just wire looms, but my firend told me this would look much better, with the exception of the wire ties. I just got creative and added orange to match the skeem of things since I'm a big UVA fan and blue and orange are their colors.

I say take the few minutes to wrap things, it will save you more hassel in the long time plus, your alternator will not rust that way.

For a whole lot more info try this site.

http://www.autopia-carcare.com/autopia/



sooo pretty

so can anyone give me a list of what to wrap?

wrap your alternator, wrap the fuse and relay boxes, windshield fluid pump, etc.
basically anything electrical that doesnt need cleaning that cant be done by hand

thanks i'll post up pics after i do it this comming weekend...

Thanks, good to know.

I'm in Arizona, it's dry as hell and things will dry a lot faster than they would otherwise. But if I can't afford the downtime, I'll definitely cover it.

Seeing as how summer is just getting started, I may wait until after the monsoon season is gone, otherwise a couple of dust storms will put me back to square 1.

also make sure that your plug wire are seated all the way down I spayed my engine off and water got down in by the plugs and caused a missfire code and turned the check engine light on. you can spray the holes out with compressed air and let it dry out if if does get in there.

good thing i got an air compressor... i'll prolly run high pressure air through it after i blast it with water...

i finally did it... but it didnt come out that good... i rushed it... ima do it again next week... ima take my time and make sure its gonna come out good...

here's some before and after pics...








i used compressed air to blow the excess water out... there's a little improvement...

makes me wanna do my engine.
haha ill do it this weekend also.

cool... ima do it again... ima use simple green like silver_nitrate said...

Yea I would say you rushed. But it is a improvement

haha dirty valve cover ..yep, still need cleaning.