Any Tricks In Cleaning Engine Bay

[Thub]

Since the weather has been getting nice I am planning on cleaning the explorers engine up, its pretty messy right now. My plan is to rinse the cold engine off with all the electronics covered with some sort of plastic and battery disconnected, then use a dish soap and water mix to spray everything down, scrub it up, and rinse off. Maybe use a little degreaser on the block. Then blast it off with compressed air and fine tune with rags.

I'm just wondering if there are any areas I should avoid getting wet besides for the normal stuff (alternator, fuse panel, other electric things).

I'm asking because when I cleaned our 03 escapes duratec engine water seeped into the coil on plug ignitions and the thing ran like hell for a few days until all the water worked its way out. I found out later that it is common for those year duratecs to have small cracks in the coils that will allow water in.

 

[LONO100]

get a good engine foam, foam it up, wait 15 min and spray. make sure you cover the battery and dist. with some plastic bags. then once its dry, get a big can of wd-40 and a towel and let the detailing begin! it'll take a while, but it'll be worth it.

 

[Thub]

get a big can of wd-40 and a towel and let the detailing begin! it'll take a while, but it'll be worth it.

I've heard that wd-40 does a good job cleaning it up, so you would recommend doing this on most plastic surfaces, and hoses once its all dry?

 

[turborich]

I have tried everything out there & this works much better then that gunk engine brite. That stuff stinks & doesn't do a very good job. It almost seems like it's diesel fuel in a can.

If you have a 99cents only store nearby stop in & pick up a bottle of Awesome. It's in a clear plastic bottle & the cleaner is yellow. Spray your engine down with the awesome, wait about 5-10 minutes & hose off with high pressure. It won't stink and it works wonders.

Next time you wash your truck try spraying your tires & wheels with Awesome & then spray it off, you will see the dirt & brake dust melt away. I've tried it all & this stuff really is Awesome.

 

[KamiKaziDK]

Like said above, get a good foaming engine cleaner and let it soak in and spray it all off. After it's all clean take armor all, or your favorite brand of interior shine and spray the entire engine down, don't worry about hosing it off or wiping it down, let it soak up a while, then drive it around and the heat will evaporate all the excess off and leave you with a very shiny engine bay as long as all the dirt was washed away.

 

[LONO100]

i dont use thw wd-40 on the rubber parts, but for the underside of the hood, and the engine bay. squirt, and then wipe with a towel. it workds, trust me. ill show you some before and after pics once i get to my laptop.

 

[LONO100]

here's a before and after of an old civic i restored (not raced out!). all that was used hear was engine foam, wd-40 and a little spray paint on the valve cover.