Engine Bay Cleaning

weather man

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O.K...I waded through the detailing sticky and found 1 blurb that said use Meguiar's Engine Cleaner. The directions say to spray on warm engine and rinse. I really hate the idea of spraying water all over the engine bay. I guess it gets plenty wet driving in the rain.

I looked at other cleaners, but a lot of them say not compatable with aluminum in the fine print.

What is the best way? Never cared on my daily drivers, but I buy a Mustang, and now I care! LOL
 

randys06v6

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That sounds kinda risky....

I JUST cleaned my engine bay yesterday

I used CD-2 Degreaser and let it soak for 15 mins. Then rinsed it off. Of course I did all this with the engine at a cool temp and the battery and intake covered up.

Then I let it dry for a good 30 minutes and soaked up any standing water.

I then used CD-2 Engine Detailer. And holy crap let me tell you. The black is verrrry black and it just makes everything look brand new and shiny. Let that sit for 20 mins then wiped off any extra. Looks freakin new.

I'll get pictures today
 

Mach2burnout

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Use that leaf blower you got sitting in the shed that you never use, lol! To blow the water off the engine and especially away from the plugs and electronics. Them let it sit with the hood open and dry completely before starting.


Sent from iPhone
 

weather man

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That sounds kinda risky....

I JUST cleaned my engine bay yesterday

I used CD-2 Degreaser and let it soak for 15 mins. Then rinsed it off. Of course I did all this with the engine at a cool temp and the battery and intake covered up.

Then I let it dry for a good 30 minutes and soaked up any standing water.

I then used CD-2 Engine Detailer. And holy crap let me tell you. The black is verrrry black and it just makes everything look brand new and shiny. Let that sit for 20 mins then wiped off any extra. Looks freakin new.

I'll get pictures today

Thanks! I would like to see the pic's.
 

Tight Lines

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Want to detail my engine bay to, I have to get the under coating off. All it does is collect dust.
 

BleedinBlue

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As far as fear of water, I've just used towels to wrap around electronics to keep them safe from direct water spray. Auto Geek has a channel on youtube and has a good video for engine bay detailing.
 

weather man

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Well...
After some comparing, decided to try these two products.

[FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica]"Gunk FEB1 Foamy Engine Brite Engine Degreaser - 17oz."[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica]"PIG SPIT ORIGINAL 10OZ"[/FONT]

We'll see how it goes.

Thanks for the feedback guys.
 

konablue11gt

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I use simple green in spray bottle and cover fuse and ecu with foil i spray it on a warm motor and let it set 15-20 mins then rinse . I then follow it up with turtle wax foaming tire cleaner and let it set . Then wipe any small spots and it looks like new ... picked this up from a differnt forum a couple years ago and its been tried and true since
 

weather man

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I use simple green in spray bottle and cover fuse and ecu with foil i spray it on a warm motor and let it set 15-20 mins then rinse . I then follow it up with turtle wax foaming tire cleaner and let it set . Then wipe any small spots and it looks like new ... picked this up from a differnt forum a couple years ago and its been tried and true since

Thanks man! I haven't hand washed a car in a very long time. Be a little weird doing it again.
 

Seer

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I just use an apc with a mild dilution, hose it off and use a product like chemical guys blue guard II on the trim, hoses. Plastic etc

The foam paint brushes work well.
 

Cammed 05

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I usually use a good apc also. I prefer a cold engine, soak with apc. Agitate with misc brushes, rinse off. I use my air hose to blow out all the crevices, electronics, and anywhere that water stands. I usually use hyper dressing diluted 3:1, spray what I want dressed, start the car and close the hood. After about a 5-8 min idle the engine bay will be hot enough, and all the rest of any water will evaporate. I wipe the excess dressing off for a nice matte natural look, then any paint with spray wax or QD.
 

weather man

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I just use an apc with a mild dilution, hose it off and use a product like chemical guys blue guard II on the trim, hoses. Plastic etc

The foam paint brushes work well.

I usually use a good apc also. I prefer a cold engine, soak with apc. Agitate with misc brushes, rinse off. I use my air hose to blow out all the crevices, electronics, and anywhere that water stands. I usually use hyper dressing diluted 3:1, spray what I want dressed, start the car and close the hood. After about a 5-8 min idle the engine bay will be hot enough, and all the rest of any water will evaporate. I wipe the excess dressing off for a nice matte natural look, then any paint with spray wax or QD.

Thanks guys!
 

TGR96

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I know that I am a little late to the party here, but since I am getting ready to clean my engine bay as well, I thought I'd chime in with something I found.

There's some good info in this link to AutoGeek.

http://www.autogeek.net/engine-guide.html

Also, there are several videos on this subject on You Tube.
 
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chutoyy

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Just spray everything with water!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObOtyP-_7Cw


Anyway, I run the engine until it gets warm, then spray some simple green cleaner on the greasy stuff (if there is any), or if it's just dust and dirt, I just take a pressure washer, stand at a distance and spray using a 'medium fan spray.' Then take a leaf blower and dry the entire engine bay, focusing first on the battery, ECU, alternator, electric stuff... then the engine parts.

Oh, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, remember to COVER your exposed intake filter. Plastic bag usually works.
 

Beerhunter

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I have been using this method forever (well a few years now anyways lol)

Start engine, get it warm, not hot, just nice and warm. As an example if the car was fully cooled, run it for 5-8 minutes. Turn off engine.

Cover the alternator and air filter on your intake, Aluminum foil works great since the motor is warm. Everything else can be subject to light rinsing type spray, including the covered fuse panel. All of these areas get hit by water when driven in the rain.

Lightly spray entire engine bay with water from hose, you will see some light steaming, this is good.

Spray the entire engine bay, including firewall, plastic parts, metal parts, loom, coils and hoses with Simple Green. Set the hood down, not fully closed, just to it's safety catch point, and go find something else to do for 15 to 20 minutes. Let the simple green do it's work. Closing the hood let's the simple green interact with the steam you created with the warm motor. This loosens the tough stuff up so you don't have to work so hard in those heavily soiled areas.

Open hood, look for heavily soiled areas, wipe them with a rag, use more simple green if necessary. Rinse lightly with hose.

Spray entire engine bay with F-21, it foams, coat everything just like the simple green coating you did.

Close hood again, walk away for 10-20 minutes or until nearly all the foam has dissipated.

Open hood, Wipe up any areas that water settled and such. Wipe up any areas that the F-21 didn't dissipate on it's own.

You will note that the F-21 restores the black plastic parts to the same oem flat black color they were when new.. It leaves the paint shiney with no streaks on the fenders and fire wall. Best of all, it is not greasey to the touch.

Before
IMG_6720.jpg


After
IMG_6721.jpg


Of course my engine bay has changed a bit since these comparison pictures were taken but that is the same method that I still use.

IMG_8486.jpg
 

DCA08GT

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I do the samething minus the F-21. It works well but I think I need to pick up some of that!
 

Beerhunter

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I do the samething minus the F-21. It works well but I think I need to pick up some of that!

I cant' find F-21 foam anymore in Canada... I can only get the spray bottle version. Still seems to work great but I do prefer the foam as you can see where you have sprayed better. Everytime I'm in the states i load up but even in the US the larger stores don't seem to carry it anymore. I have found it at Autozone though
 

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