Under My Good - Very Dirty.

[Jesters]

So under my hood, anything and everything you see is pretty dirty. What can I do to clean everything without messing up anything?

It's a 2001 Tahoe, like that matters but just putting it out there in case.

[1LoC10]

Simple Green

[FarmTruk]

If it's just mainly surface dirt and grime, I've always used the quarter-eating DIY power-washers at the local car wash. Just be real careful to not directly spray the electrical stuff with the highest wand pressure. And I've always had a can of WD40 handy if I needed to displace some moisture, but in 25 years of washing engines in this manner, I've only had to do that once.

If you are concerned with getting water on electrical stuff, you can always cover it with a plastic grocery bad.

I've also just used my garden hose, bucket of warm, soapy water, and a rag & brush. The garden hose doesn't have the same pressure as the car wash wands, so that's a plus.
If it's got a heavy coating of oil, baked and caked on, off-the-shelf engine degreaser works fairly well. May need to scrape the heavy deposits off with a putty knife, and I've found that it comes off a little bit easier if the engine is slightly warm (not hot).

So basically, I've always washed my engines in pretty much the exact same way as I've washed the rest of the car/truck. Never really give much thought to any issues with it, and like I said, only once has there been a problem, which was a little moisture in the distributor. WD40 cleared that right up.

[Jesters]

Originally Posted by 1LoC10

Simple Green

Thanks.

Originally Posted by FarmTruk

If it's just mainly surface dirt and grime, I've always used the quarter-eating DIY power-washers at the local car wash. Just be real careful to not directly spray the electrical stuff with the highest wand pressure. And I've always had a can of WD40 handy if I needed to displace some moisture, but in 25 years of washing engines in this manner, I've only had to do that once.

If you are concerned with getting water on electrical stuff, you can always cover it with a plastic grocery bad.

I've also just used my garden hose, bucket of warm, soapy water, and a rag & brush. The garden hose doesn't have the same pressure as the car wash wands, so that's a plus.
If it's got a heavy coating of oil, baked and caked on, off-the-shelf engine degreaser works fairly well. May need to scrape the heavy deposits off with a putty knife, and I've found that it comes off a little bit easier if the engine is slightly warm (not hot).

So basically, I've always washed my engines in pretty much the exact same way as I've washed the rest of the car/truck. Never really give much thought to any issues with it, and like I said, only once has there been a problem, which was a little moisture in the distributor. WD40 cleared that right up.

Thanks a lot. I have a power washer here at my house. It has low pressure and high pressure so I'm pretty so that'll work?

Is there anything I should spray the engine and stuff over with after I'm done spraying it down? Maybe to keep it clean for awhile.

[Chris @ GGD]

I usually dress the engine pieces w/ trim restorer. 303 aerospace is another option. It'll give a nice gloss, but nothing will prevent the dirt from accumulating unfortunately.
http://www.glimmerglassdetailing.com/303aepr.html
http://www.glimmerglassdetailing.com/trim-restorer.html

[FarmTruk]

I meant to say plastic grocery "bag", not "bad", but hopefully you got my drift. /hahahaha/

Honestly, the only thing I've ever done after cleaning is run the engine for a few minutes to dry it, and wipe down the under-hood plasics and hoses with low-gloss tire dressing, ie: armor-all. It does seem to attract some dust when I do that, though. But I generally keep the engine clean enough that I can give it a real quick wash job and get that dust off.

FWIW, I only wash my engines about every 6 months or so. Not long enough between washes to get really nasty, but neither is it a job I do every month.

[Jesters]

Originally Posted by Chris @ GGD

I usually dress the engine pieces w/ trim restorer. 303 aerospace is another option. It'll give a nice gloss, but nothing will prevent the dirt from accumulating unfortunately.
http://www.glimmerglassdetailing.com/303aepr.html
http://www.glimmerglassdetailing.com/trim-restorer.html

Awesome, I'll look into that. Thanks for the input!

[JRs_Z71]

In the past I used to use the carwash pressure washers but my 5.3L engine just has too much electrical components covering up the engine. This engine bay was really super dirty and took awhile to clean up. Don't know if this will help you much but here is what I did this morning.


1. While the engine was cold I sprayed some Gunk gel degreaser (can't recommend this stuff. It left a residue that had to be cleaned up. The foam stuff is probably loads better). Let it sit for 5-10 minutes. Didn't spray onto any electrical components or manifold even though both of them could have used it.

2. Turned on garden hose with just enough pressure to get a lite steam of water coming out. Washed off degreaser.

3. Filled up bucket with good soapy water (Poor Boys SS&S) and washed down the dirty engine bay with a boars hair brush so as to not scratch things up (a stiff wheel scrubbing brush could have scratched the plastic parts in the engine bay). Mostly just got the plastic parts with that needed cleaning. Cleaned up the fender wells. I didn't wash down the plastic manifold cover. I knew I was going to take this off and wash it down off the engine.

4. Wiped down all the plastic parts like the shroud, fender wells, fuse box and intake housing with Armorall. I'd like to experiment with other water based protectants but just used what I had on hand.

5. I sprayed a little WD-40 on the rusty parts on the intake manifold and wiped up what I could on the intake. I'm not sure what to do with the valve covers. I wouldn't spray down the engine with WD40 like I've seen some people post. Thats just going to make more dust stick to where you don't want it to.

6. Cleaned up the plastic manifold shroud with a sponge and dishwashing liquid. My Vortec logo was loosing its silver paint so I touched it up a little with White and Red. I put it back on the engine and gave it a little Armorall. I didn't put much on since that shroud might get fairly hot and I didn't want to bake Armorall onto it. In fact I didn't get crazy with the Armorall anywhere to see how held up to the heat. Maybe I should try some of that 303 stuff I keep seeing mentioned.

If I would have had some quick detailer I would have wiped down the painted parts in the engine bay. I have some poor boys trim restorer but wasn't sure how it would hold up to the heat. I think its petroleum based.

[Jesters]

Originally Posted by JRs_Z71

In the past I used to use the carwash pressure washers but my 5.3L engine just has too much electrical components covering up the engine. The engine bay was really dirty and took awhile to clean up. Don't know if this will help you much but here is what I did this morning.


1. While the engine was cold I sprayed some Gunk gel degreaser (can't recommend this stuff. It left a residue that had to be cleaned up. The foam stuff is probably loads better). Let it sit for 5-10 minutes. Didn't spray onto any electrical components or manifold even though both of them could have used it.

2. Turned on garden hose with just enough pressure to get a lite steam of water coming out. Washed off degreaser.

3. Filled up bucket with good soapy water (Poor Boys SS&S) and washed down the dirty engine bay with a boars hair brush so as to not scratch things up (a stiff wheel scrubbing brush could have scratched the plastic parts in the engine bay). Mostly just got the plastic parts with that needed cleaning. Cleaned up the fender wells. I didn't wash down the plastic manifold cover. I knew I was going to take this off and wash it down off the engine.

4. Wiped down all the plastic parts like the shroud, fender wells, fuse box and intake housing with Armorall. I'd like to experiment with other water based protectants but just used what I had on hand.

5. I sprayed a little WD-40 on the rusty parts on the intake manifold and wiped up what I could on the intake. I'm not sure what to do with the valve covers. I wouldn't spray down the engine with WD40 like I've seen some people post. Thats just going to make more dust stick to where you don't want it to.

6. Cleaned up the plastic manifold shroud with a sponge and dishwashing liquid. My Vortec logo was loosing its silver paint so I touched it up a little with White and Red. I put it back on the engine and gave it a little Armorall. I didn't put much on since that shroud might get fairly hot and I didn't want to bake Armorall onto it. In fact I didn't get crazy with the Armorall anywhere to see how held up to the heat. Maybe I should try some of that 303 stuff I keep seeing mentioned.

If I would have had some quick detailer I would have wiped down the painted parts in the engine bay. I have some poor boys trim restorer but wasn't sure how it would hold up to the heat. I think its petroleum based.

Woot, thanks for the big post!

[JRs_Z71]

Originally Posted by Jesters

Woot, thanks for the big post!

Hope it helps you in some way. Btw if you do the quarter wash method don't wash your engine while its hot. Also be careful if your spraying around the manifold.

Just my opinion but I wouldn't try to blast the dirt n' grime out of the engine bay Good soapy water and a brush to agitate seemed to work nicely. Then just a lite steam of water finished it up.

My engine wasn't even that greasy. Mostly everything else was just dirty and grimey. I don't think it will be as difficult to clean next time. It should clean up even better.

Good luck cleanin up your engine bay.