cleaning your engine

[mr pete]

Ok since I live in the north east and my winters are bad, I was thinking of cleaning my x engine down at the car wash. I have never really done it and are open to ideas and what not to spray where etc. just **** about the way things are dirty.

 

[96limitedX]

i just spray some simple clean on there good. then use plastic bags to cover up your battery,coil,intake,altranator and you will be fine. i was going to clean mine today actualy..lol

 

[410Fortune]

get yourself two cans of Gunk Foamy engine brite.
When you pull up and get in line, pop the hood.
Sray both full cans all over the engine bay. Hold your breath!
Get all the metal sides of the engine, around the pullies up front, sides of the radiator, the friewall, around the brake booster, etc.
You really are not going to hurt anything in a stock engine bay with water.

Let it sit for a couple minutes (or until its your turn) rinse with low pressure thuroughly.
rinse rinse lots, you can use high pressure in some spots but there is no need, low pressure will rinse it off.

the only two things to really worry about is getting too much water in or around the airbox, a little puddle will form on your powersteering cap which is vented so use a rag and soak that water up, or once its close to dry, remove the cap and empty the water.


They dont build them like they used too...with all that plastic and no carb you can get en engine pretty wet these days with no ill effects.

As stated above you dont want to soak the alternator, but hitting it with water will not hurt it, avoid direct spraying the brake resevoir, oil or trans dipsticks, airbox, and battery. You can wipe the standing water off the coil pack, battery, etc before you start it up.
You can also leave it running during this whole process, but I never have.

Here is my 96 I picked up from my brother, who after owning it for 8 years never once cleaned under here, he might have added washer fluid now and then but any other hood lifting was done by paid people and they dont clean. Here it is after about 12 hours in my possession and 2 cans of engine brite:

 

[96limitedX]

yeah..only reason i said the intake is because i have a open intake.

i have never used that "foamy birght" or any of that stuff does it really work? i have allways used simple green. i am going to try "industrial strength" today and see if its any different. nice write up BTW.

 

[410Fortune]

Simple green will discolor black ABS plastic unless it is watered down, same is true with my favorite de-greaser Castrol Super Clean ( you can do your laundry with that stuff) Foamy Engine brite is like $1 a can, bio-degradable and works excellent.
the dealer does a similar process when they turn cars around, except they follow this up with a sloppy application of silicate spray, that stuff makes it look pretty but it can do some damage.

Your car will smell for a little while after, dont worry it goes away, I actually kinda like the smell, smells like clean engine new car.

 

[mr pete]

cool guys thanks. I just did not want to be dead at the car wash. Hey do the people that own the car wash get upset if they see you doing this. I have heard this before?

 

[410Fortune]

they only get mad at us for bringin in 487# of mud at times.
As long as the chemicals you spray are harmless, dont worry about it.

 

[davidmmm69]

also after you are done with that spray a can of engine bright detailer and it works wonders.
I always do all my hoses and stuff after i spray the engine..

 

[96limitedX]

i just did mine..looks great. but im going to buy some of this "Foamy Engine brite" and try it out. i do mix the simple green with water if that helps..lol

pics later..

 

[Rodeo Joe]

A tip I learned from here. I use a leave blower after I hose everything down to get rid of the excess water before starting the engine.

Joe

 

[spindlecone]

have never had a problem with simple green on the plastic parts (full strength), just don't let it set more than 5 mins, whats great about S.G is you can do the deed in your driveway, SG is totally non-toxic.
Only thing that needs to be covered is an open intake, forget about the alternator, coil pack etc, spray it down with SG (on a cold engine), rinse it off with a hose, repeat if really grungy.
Blow all the excess water off with a yard blower, go for a 5 mile drive,Park It, let it cool, spray everything down with pigspit, www.pigspit.com, wipe off the excess, Enjoy

 

[96limitedX]

got it done...shines great now. one less thing to do before the upcoming shows

 

[spindlecone]

got it done...shines great now. one less thing to do before the upcoming shows

Is a smidgen of crud left on the intake tube baffles, a Quetip might be in order, lookin good tho

 

[410Fortune]

hey take the handle off your Optima too

Spindlecone, Superclean is also bio degradable, I was a huge simple green fan until the Castrol stuff came out....that stuff works wonders on EVERYTHING plus it smells good and they make that no towel hand cleaner for the trail.

 

[ExplorerDMB]

Here's mine. If you go to my cardomain site and go to the last page - you'll see the "how to" on detailing your engine and the precautions you should take.

 

[spindlecone]

hey take the handle off your Optima too

Spindlecone, Superclean is also bio degradable, I was a huge simple green fan until the Castrol stuff came out....that stuff works wonders on EVERYTHING plus it smells good and they make that no towel hand cleaner for the trail.

Whats a Trail?

 

[410Fortune]

its similar to a road, but stuff breaks more often on it and the hose is too far away, so you need that towel-less hand cleaner, plus it smells like orange tic tacs which are the best food in the world.

Seriously if you have not tried the superclean hand cleaner, that stuff removes the grease from your hands with no water and no towels, it has a permanent place in my trail bag.....

Also on the SOHC are there supossed to be two hoses to the brake booster or am I seeing things?

 

[ExplorerDMB]

Also on the SOHC are there supossed to be two hoses to the brake booster or am I seeing things?

I see two! Mines a SOHC.

-Drew

 

[410Fortune]

actually upon further review I believe one is the cruise control cable and housingf just giving a visual effect, there should only be 1 vaccum line to the booster......

 

[96limitedX]

hey take the handle off your Optima too

what if i need to carry it?? (once i figure it out i will )