Engine Compartment Cleanliness

[///Menace328i]

After looking at this car's engine compartment...

mine needs to be cleaned... bad!... How do you do it? I have used that grease cleaner spray and after using water to rinse it off I ended up with several shot sparkplugs.. nooooo not in my bimmer, but on other cars I have so I decided not to use that stuff ever again... and yes I did cover all the esential electrical parts. Any suggestions?
BTW i hope the owner of this car doesn't mind me using his sex machine's picture.

[Jamison]

steam cleaning?

[schematic]

This might sound stupid but I've been told never to use water because of all the sensors and electrical management systems in the compartment.I was thinking maybe "WD 40 "and the wifes terror lean Nighty!!

[Ljk619]

Steam cleaning is a terrible idea. Very hot water shot out at very high pressure. The hot water will eat away at rubber parts (maybe not the first time but after repeated use and on already worn parts). Also yes there are many many electrical devices under the car, not only the computer and fuse box, but also sensors and such. And so we all know from movies and stuff that water and electricity don't mix, also metal doesn't go well with the water, causes corrosion, rust, we all know that too.

Engine degreaser, bad idea as well. Not only do they smell real bad, but the liquid is so strong if you leave it on something too long it'll start eating away at it like acid. And also you have to wash it off with water, which brings us back to paragraph one.

Best idea, some sort of mild cleaner like some Armor All products, or even things like WD-40 and lots and lots of....Elbow Grease! Keep rubbing away at the dirty spots. The other ideas may have worked for others and it's much quicker than rubbing away the dirt by hand, but I personally would not take the chance, and since we all treat our cars like a king why not wash it and give it the attention like one.

[bmdubbatech]

Spraying water isnt bad for the sensors and stuff, think about when it rains and how much mist from the tires on the road gets in there, its was you said about the shorted coils thats the problem, the water pools in the spark plug holes shorts them, why doesnt this happen with the mist off the tires and road idk, but what to do is take a spray bottle and put a few inches of armor all in it, and fill the rest with water, you can spay it on almost what ever you want and then wipe off excess, i know it sounds time consuming, as far as lots of dirt take a spray bottle and just use water, but just look out around valve cover for the spark plugs, as far as wd40 do not use it, it will look good for a bit, then it will atrack all kinds of stuff, and if you get it wet it will run and look like crap, and thats also why you dont use full strenght armor all ,they dont call it detailing because its easy, lol, good luck

[schematic]

I agree if you use WD 40 and leave it on it will attract all kinds of stuff! but the Idea was to clean the Engine compartment not just spray it on and leave it.it can't be that bad they even use it for cleaning hands up if no water available.Once claened off then it's elbow grease and spit and polish.another trick is don't open the Hood till the lights start flashing.

[mehumming]

take it part for part, panel for panel ..
nuts, bolts, screw heads, grooves, joins etc
engine bay surfaces that are metal shouldn't have a problem being cleaned with a degrease, spray the area and leave the short time allowing to penetrate the affected area.. high pressure soap washing with help remove degrease and other deposits.
the only problems i have encountered with cleaning engines and bays would have to be using Kerosene, its not bad but some types of plastics ( Air intakes Ford) have a dull affect after and need rejuvenating with armorall or similar products


Engine degreasers are good first starters spraying everything except foam and soft bonnet sound protecting materials..
In the coolest part of your day with the engine cold this should be done and make sure to start your engine and let idle whilst you dry your most particular electrical and throttle components with high pressure air cleaning nozzles removing all moisture and watch each component dry in front of you..

Every part, every hole, anything that holds mass of water spray with some air to remove ,, watch it dry but watch those pretty panels dont get grease and oils on em.. keep the soapier bucket of water nearby

Parts cleaning brushes are great for covers and heavily deposited area with a little kerosene or spray on degreaser

Remember dont spend to much time with the pressure washer in on area, keep it moving, look at watch your cleaning , part for part ..
plastics clean very fast their smooth
metal brackets and pumps take a little more let them soak
if you have a hoist get the vehicle up and check the tranny, kero the go under neath then high pressure soup wash
g i love cleaning some thing nice
g i love restoring some thing clean
many types of degreaser and cleaners choose you products for their strength and quanity
i have always used air and water to clean my engines.........

[silent765]

carb cleaner the one that comes with the straw works great all that other crap just smokes when it gets hot

[gotKRAUT]

i use concentrated "holy cow" the green bottle, hose down everything with it, then literally take my garden hose and spray it off, let it dry for a couple hours and your fine, i cant possibly see how you damaged spark plugs unless they werent fastened tightly here is the result