best way to clean engine?

[89accordboi]

my engine bay is pretty dirty, i want to clean it up w/o having to pull stuff out cuz for one i dont know how, so what hsould i use like just a hose with a nice adapter that puts a nice force? is it bad for water to hit the engine? what should i do?

[Mike's89AccordLX]

Well you have to cover some stuff up like your distributor cap and ignition coil i think

[turfnnsurf]

you can buy a couple of cans of GUNK engine cleaner at the local auto parts store, then take the car to a self serve car wash with one of those power washer drive in bays. what I do is shut off the car to allow the engine to cool while i wash the outside of the car. then i spray the "engine cleaner" all over the engine bay making sure to hit spots that have any heavy oil or dirt twice. try to avoid the exhaust manifold cause it might still be hot and will make nasty smelling steam if you spray directly on it. Anyway once you get everything covered with cleaner let it sit for a minute or two then drop a few quarters in the pressure washer and goto town cleaning your engine... the only things i can say not to hit directly with the pressure washer is the distributor and the lid for your carb. Check out my engine bay here to see how clean it can be. http://hometown.aol.com/turfnsurf/page3.html

Brad

[dXsquared]

take off the air cleaner... then cover the carb, distributor and thats all... then get out the presure washer and start sprayin

Travis

[Mike's89AccordLX]

So all I have to cover up is my cone filter and distributor. Hmm I might do that tomorrow then. I have a can of engine degreaser. Oh wait I also have to cover up my 2 breather filters too.

[88 Accord DX]

someone told me it is bad to wash the engine without the engine running. i told know why that is just what i was told. when i clean my engine i do it all by hand. its a long job but it looks alot better.

[Jims 86LXI HB]

Originally posted by Mike's89AccordLX
So all I have to cover up is my cone filter and distributor. Hmm I might do that tomorrow then. I have a can of engine degreaser. Oh wait I also have to cover up my 2 breather filters too.

I purchase a long handled artist's brush with stiff bristles that I used to get to hard to reach spots to do a little scrubbing, worked great. I got the brush in walmarts arts and crafts section.

[Mike's89AccordLX]

Thanks for the info Jim. I have a plastic bristled brush to do some scrubbing.

[RobT5580]

I recently saw the best tool to clean an engine bay. My freind bought a steamer of of HSN (Home Shopping Network) cause he thought it would clean his JDM h22 but it didnt work that well but it took everything right out of the engine bay. It was pretty amazing cause i have some junk in mine that wont come out with Gunk so im gonna do this when i pull the motor. The only bad thing is i think it was like $100.

[Jims 86LXI HB]

I never thought about using one of those steamers that way, it would make a excellent cleaner for grease and grim. Thanks for bringing that up Rob.:wave:

[Neuspeed007]

********************************
yes steam cleaner from shucks or auto zone, spray everythig except the distributor and ignition coil. I use 2 cans, then let it sit. Make sure u have ur car on when ur doing this, and have soebody tap the gas every once and a while. (to prevent it from flodding) Thendrive it to the car wash and power spray everything and make sure somebody taps the gas at the car wash to, cause thats where ur going to see some Major rpm droppage! Your gonn have to fight it, thendrive it around for about 15 minutes, so the car gets back into its daily gig.
IT IS BAD to steam clean the engine withought the car being on, so thats ur number 1 Priority!! Dont foget!
Good luck bro-

[Mike's89AccordLX]

Ok I have a question about the cleaner at the car wash. Do you need your car on to use that cleaner? I think it is called motor and tire cleaner. What do you guys think?

[89accordboi]

aight cool i'll probably do this in the next couple of days to make my engine all secksi and stuff, thx alot peeps :)

[88 Accord DX]

Originally posted by Mike's89AccordLX
Ok I have a question about the cleaner at the car wash. Do you need your car on to use that cleaner? I think it is called motor and tire cleaner. What do you guys think?

like i said i have always been told to keep the engine running. cant hurt right?

[Mike's89AccordLX]

I suppose it couldn't hurt. I'll just get a door open so I don't die.

[Coroncho80]

Originally posted by turfnnsurf
http://hometown.aol.com/turfnsurf/page3.html

Brad



Dude, you have an Sei! Sweet looking car man, but if the leather is in good condition, take those covers off! :D


Are those rims on already? they are hot.

you gotta take more pics and post them here so every body can see them. If you can't post pics, email them to me and I'll post them for ya!

[jays87]

ok no this is a little late in posting but ths is wut i did to mine and it cleaned it up really nice i mean i could eat off he engine its that clean! i took my car over to votech to get my emblem holes covered wit welding and bondo. but after i did that i went to wah it and i was like well since i am washin it why dont i wash the engine while i am at it so i took some degreeser and some heavy duty all purpose cleaner and sprayed the whole engine hood and bay wit it scrubbed the greeser parts on the engine wit a brush(ike the valve cover and the head) an then used a presure washer and sprayed down the engine. but make sure if you have an intake like i do cover the filter wit a plastic bag so u dont soak the filter.

[xbi0s]

Clean the engine? The best method I've ever found is under the kitchen sink...

Go to the carwash when there isn't many people there, like the owner...

Use a low mist and wet the engine (or some way of wetting the entire engine, some car washes need X amoutn of money to start, out here I have one thats just $.25 for 2 minutes)

Anyways.. wet it down, use Dawn (yes, Dawn...) on a wet rag, and rub down the engine, be gentile around the electrical's, make sure you get it nice and good...

Then use the spot free rinse, or the rinse on there, but DO NOT use high pressure in the engine bay, make sure its just rinsing the soap off...


I do this, then I use a plastic protectant (found 'Son of a Gun' in the Garage and it worked wonders) and use it with some paper towels on the plastic, and a nice metal cleaner on the hardware

Made my engine look BRAND spankin' new.... Hope it works :)