ANSWERS: 6
  • I found this rather exhaustive article, which is below: Many car, truck and RV owners spend hours cleaning and waxing the exterior of their rigs, but do not give any more attention to things under the hood beyond checking the fluids periodically. There are many reasons why it is important to clean the engine and its surroundings routinely. A clean and tidy engine compartment makes it much easier to detect oil and fluid leaks, damaged or worn drive belts and rust or battery corrosion before they lead to more serious damage. And if things really get out of hand, the dirt could provide fuel for an engine fire. Cleaning the engine compartment is not that difficult and unless you are a perfectionist or plan to enter the vehicle in Concours d'Elegance competition, it does not require much elbow grease. First, warm up the engine for a few minutes. This will help soften the grease and crud. However, do not let the engine get hot. Never spray water on a hot engine since sudden temperature changes can cause serious damage. Also you can get serious burns from hot engine parts. Next, cover critical parts of engine with plastic bags and rubber band to protect them from water and other liquids. Either cover the air intake and filter or remove it and cover the opening. Protect electrical components like distributor, coil and fuse box. Use rubber bands to seal the bags around the components. Check the oil filler cap, the power steering filler cap, oil dip stick, etc. to make sure they are tight. After everything is sealed up, spray the engine, accessories and surrounding components with a high quality non-petroleum-based degreaser that will not harm the paint. After letting the degreaser work for about five minutes, use a soft brush, a paint brush works well, to loosen up the crud. Respray with degreaser and rebrush if grease and grunge remains. When the entire engine and engine compartment looks pretty clean, rinse with lots of water from your garden hose. If you can, hook up to a hot water tap since hot water will do an even better job. Better yet, do the job at a do-it-yourself car wash which usually has higher pressure hot water and is set up to handle the dirty water in a more environmentally friendly way. Even though the degreaser may not contaminate the ground, the nasty stuff washed off can get into the groundwater supply and do harm. Many car washes have equipment specifically for cleaning engines. If you want to use a degreaser that you know is safe, I only use the facility to rinse with plain, hot water. Clean the engine first and wash the vehicle after cleaning the engine compartment making sure all overspray of the degreaser is removed. Since all degreasers will remove wax, plan on rewaxing after cleaning the engine compartment. Once the engine and compartment is clean, immediately remove all plastic bags and rubber bands. Dry standing water and aluminum parts with a soft cotton towel. Start the engine and let it to warm up to dry the rest of the engine as well as evaporate any moisture that may have collected in electric parts. If you do not start the engine immediately, often moisture will seep inside parts and it now will take a long time for things to dry out. If this occurs, use an ordinary hair dry to heat ignition systemparts like distributor and coil. Once everything is dry and has completely cooled, you may want to coat hoses, weatherstripping, shields, gaskets and other rubber parts with a rubber protectant. However, do not use it on rubber belts since it could cause them to slip. This was found @: http://www.seniorworld.com/articles/a19981024200451.html
  • The motorcycle dealer which I have purchased a few of my bikes from have a practice of steam cleaning the enigines if they are second hand.machines I have never had any mechanical problems with them but as I have no steam cleaner it ends up with being a brush, rags and WD40 session whenever I do it.
  • I am an automechanic myself and regularly wash the engine in all my cars. Studies show that a clean engine runs cooler and that external parts like ignition wires, belts and hoses last longer if they are kept clean because a build up of oil on those parts causes them to deteriourate faster. I recommend this, buy a can of engine degresser at your favorite local auto parts store, grab several old plastic grocery bags. Drive to the local wash it yourself car wash hopefully there is one just a mile or two from where you live, if not perhaps there is one near where you work. You don't want the engine to be to hot when you do this or the degreeser will evaporate before it has a chance to do it's job. At the car wash open the hood and cover the following things with the grocery bags and secure with the rubber bands distrubutor, alternator, carburator and the air filter not all cars have all the before mentioned parts any of these parts your car has must be covered up before washing or they will be damaged. Spray the degresser all over under the hood paying special attention to the really bad spots. Close the hood and wash the body of the car as you would normally this gives the degreeser time to work. When done washing the body open the hood and set the car wash knob to rinse. Rinse under the hood hold the nosile closer at the really bad spots. Even the toughest dirt, grime and grease will come right off. when done rinsing take the pastic bags off and throw them away. Start the engine and let it idle for a minite or two so the engine can dry off. You engine and it's components will last longer and your mechanic will will be thrilled the next time you bring your car in.
  • Our course it is...... Steves reply is sensible, but hey!!, life can be fun... The first thing to do is find an Autowash with hot water. Having found one take your car there with a load of "Large Bubble, Bubble Wrap". Carefully spread ot the bubblewrap in front of the carwash where you will put your car. (Two layers deep is better than one). Now, carefully, turn your car upsidedown on the bubblewrap and push it close to the hot water lance. (Rememember to empty any ashtrays to stop the headlining being dirtied). Now, with the underside of the engine exposed, cleaning is easy! Over the sump and gearbox area carefully spread a mixture of Peanut butter and fish paste. Let this set for 15 minutes then add/spray at least 23 large aerosol cans of engine degreaser of the peanut and rest of the engine area. Place a new or freshly laundered large pink or yellow sheet over the exposed engine bay to prevent unwanted evaporation and leave for 27 minutes. Now, carefully turn your car the right way up and follow Steve Ryans instructions....except, remember, if you notice the smell of burning Peant Butter and Fish.....DON'T WORRY. It means your car is still working!!
  • dont listen to anyone. listen to someone who has expirience. and i do. NEVER WASH YOU ENGINE. i had all best transimission japanese engine car and they all broe down couple days later i wash my engine. i had nissan mexima 1998, toyota camry 1997, nissan altima 2002, honda accord 2000. i wash engine on all those car becasue it has lots of dust and oil leaks etc.. so i washed the engine and believe me every single car broke down 1 week later. i end up changing starter, alternator, battery, isc valve, EGR valve, and lots more. my fifth car is 1994 camry oldest and dirtiest engine i ever seen in my life and drove had 102,000 miles and drove until now 160,000 miles stll runing like chaps. so whats conclusion? NEVER EVER WASH YOUR ENGINE.
  • I was told to leave the engine running and spray with a light mist. I only did this like 2 times.

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