just to let eveyone know i tried searching first computer always got hung up when i did.... i even let it stay searching for 15 min with no avail....
what i would like to know is, what everyone uses to clean thier engine bay... i just replaced a head gasket and noticed how gross it was under the hood. i have heard that people use simple green all over the engine and then take it for a drive... just wanted to see what eveyone has to say...
mean green. let the engine cool a little after running, scrub hard for a couple hours then rinse. works great for me.
My Cav
I give up...
i'm buying a VW those people love trees, so they should love eachother too... "Andy"
i personally have used simple green and its my favorite..get the engine abit warm spray it on the engine everywhere...let sit for about 15 mins and spray some more on..let sit 5 mins and then hose off....it did wonders with my car..and then sometimes id go over it again with a brush to get it even cleaner...then run the car to get the engine dry and then i wiped all the plastic and black hoses with tire dressing on a rag ..this is the result:
The nice this is once its cleaned once it just takes regular spray downs and it stays clean..phil
Don't forget to cover the alternator before spraying it down.
Nah dont need to cover anything man..cept your intake if its in the bay..i washed mine evry week in the summer with no problems..phil
i just make sure my motor is COLD. as in not run for a while, spray it all down with tire foam shine, and let soak and done.. or ill wash it after that but spray it again and be done.
my experience with "mean green" is a bad one... that shiit is so harsh it loves to eat clear coat right off. i ruined a set of 17" rims that had been clear coated, as well as a set of my 95-99 z24 wheels. that stuff does good work, but DAMN maybe a little bit TOO good lol
wow, so simple green it is...lol dont feel like messin with mean green after that....lol
does your strut bar hit your intake? Mine does and im pissed. sorry for the off topic.
But simple green is the @!#$
deleted
^^Nope it did abit but i tilted it back a bit and pushed the intake farther down.all good to go ..phil
so what all do you have to cover before you guys dump this stuff over the engine bay? the intake filter and the alternator thats it?? What about the plugs and battery terminals type stuff thats all okay?
I just take mine to the car wash and use the stuff they have for engine degreaser and go crazy with the pressure washer.
FORGET GIRLS GONE WILD WE HAVE GOVERNMENT SPENDING GONE WILD!
Keep this going....
If this written up properly its in my opinion that we make this a sticky....
Cover what...?
Sit time for the Simple green....?
Pressure hose or regular garden hose...?
Engine bay warm or cold...?
Tire dressing for hoses and lines or a different solution ( i have found that interior dash cleaner works great )..?
He with the answers give her a go.....
i just used a heavy degreaser on mine, just took 5-6 hours and cleaned every single piece off till it was completly clean. once its clean once its quite easy to come back and keep it clean on a weekly basis. after i use any heavy degreaser i always go over it again with soapy water just as a precaution. i just try not to spray my intake filter and my alt. othere then that not much i dont spray down really.
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i work for Hertz, i wash cars for a living. although none of our vehicles have aftermarket air filter's that are open in the engine bay-i would still say cover that up if your going to do any sort of washing in the engine bay.
i wash our engine bay's all the time, hot or cold... we have an ancient pressure washer, doesnt have the GREATEST pressure in the world, but its still better than a garden hose. i spray it down first with "mr clean" soap, its yellow, u can get it at wal-mart (i call it alien piss) then wash all the soap off. then i spray it down with "tire dressing" and wipe off. the engine bays look AWESOME when finished.
ive washed alternators and never had a problem, as well as electrical components and also never had a problem.
its the older vehicles that run distributor caps/rotors that u gotta be careful with washing. they wont start back up again if the cap condensates and gets water all over the rotor and points etc.
I washed mine real quick over the weekend. I've ignored it for quite sometime now. I had some "Grease Lightning" that I bought awhile back. I've always been a little weary about hosing down the engine at the car wash but figured I'd take a chance. It says to use on cold engines. Well I didn't feel like waiting around for my engine to cool down. It was cold and windy outside so I just waited until it was warm to the touch. I sprayed the entire bay as best I could, like I said it was windy, I think I got more on me than the car. I let it set a few minutes while I put the coins in to turn the washer on and prewashed the rest of the car. I then sprayed it down with the "high pressure rinse" (only squeezing handle in short bursts a couple of times) Seemed to work pretty good and I'm sure if I let it sit a little longer and if it was warmer outside to where I could stand there and actually give it a good scrubbing, I'm sure it would have turned out better. and I didn't cover the alternator
Hrothgar (zack) wrote:so what all do you have to cover before you guys dump this stuff over the engine bay? the intake filter and the alternator thats it?? What about the plugs and battery terminals type stuff thats all okay?
ok im still want to know what do i have to cover cuz my engine bay is dirty as hell i think i have the dirties engine in here lol
thats why i dont like to open my hood alot lol.
i bought this long time ago but dont know how to use (stupid way to waste money lol) is GUNK Engine Brite, Heavy Duty Engine Degreaser
Here's how mine turned out. Not nearly as clean as I would like it to be but again it was a real quick clean, I'm sure had I spent more time it would have turned out better. I plan on doing a better job and getting down there and really scrub the %^&$(* out of it once it warms up.
Cleaner: Grease Lightning
Application: Spray on
Engine Status: Cold engines (as stated on the bottle) Mine was still a little warm
Items covered: Nothing. ( I have a stock intake though. Make sure you cover yours if you don't )
Hoses: Didn't do them yet. I didn't have anything with me to clean them. ( There is a bunch of crud and crap on them that really needs to come off though )
Clean/Rinse: Pressure washer from the car wash.
Procedure:
1.) I sprayed the degreaser on the entire engine and let it set for a few minutes while I pumped the machine full of quarters and pre-soak the rest of the car.
2.) I then switch over to the "high pressure rinse" mode and began rinsing away the degreaser. I only squeezed the handle a few times in quick bursts. I didn't want to take the chance of something coming loose from the pressure.
3.) I then lowered the hood but not to where it fully closed and proceeded to wash the rest of the car.
4.) Pulled the car to the side, popped the hood and dried the engine off with a few rags.
Before
After
Before
After
Those are the end results from a 5-10 minute cleaning. The pics don't really do the cleaning any justice, but up close and in person you can really see the difference. I can post other pics after I clean it again, hopefully you'll be able to see the difference better.
Ok, I know I'm bringing this back from the dead...
But those of you saying Simple Green, which simple green product are you using? I know there are a couple products out there meant for the car (or so it seems..) Are you using the degreaser or just the car wash? or something else?
Holy Old Post Batman... (caught my eye cause i know the Original Poster in person)
Purple Power and a pressure washer FTMFW
This look good, I need to do that me too, just because of rustproof oil
Linkin [DirtyCav wrote:]Ok, I know I'm bringing this back from the dead...
But those of you saying Simple Green, which simple green product are you using? I know there are a couple products out there meant for the car (or so it seems..) Are you using the degreaser or just the car wash? or something else?
if its not dirty just the car wash stuff is fine, if its dirty and greasy use a degreser.
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i use the black magic engine bay cleaner that already has a tire shine chemical in it. and a low pressure water hose, works really well
Any strong degreasant works fine, and the longer it sits the better it works too.
