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A steam genny(professional power washer that also produces steam) is awesome if you can get your hands on one with a degreaser. If not a power washer is the next best way to attack it.
Elbow grease seems to work well.
Getting the engine bay clean after it's been neglected can seem daunting, but you don't have to do it all in one go, focus on one area and get it clean, then another day focus on another area and then touch up the area you already did. It won't take too long until you're looking for areas that aren't clean, and your touch-up time isn't much at all.
A word of warning though, once your engine bay is clean you will look for ways to make it look even better...
I use a heavily diluted mixture of castrol superclean. I think like 20:1 or something like that, it has it on the bottle. Spray it down, let it sit for a few minutes, rinse and repeat until all the grease is gone.
For the engine bay, try a motorcycle engine cleaner called S100. Lightly wet the engine bay, spritz on the S100, wipe it around with a sponge, and then lightly rinse it off the motor. It acts like simple green and tire dressing at the same time! It cuts the grease and dirt and leaves a nice shiny surface behind!
but all of these required water. what about with no water at all? or is water a must to clean the engine bay? i'm just afraid to get some of the electrical wet or parts to crack. i usually have to drive to a car wash to wash my car so getting there will required my car to be warm or hot.
but all of these required water. what about with no water at all? or is water a must to clean the engine bay? i'm just afraid to get some of the electrical wet or parts to crack. i usually have to drive to a car wash to wash my car so getting there will required my car to be warm or hot.
underhood is a "wet" zone. it's exposed to splash from the tires and road all of the time.
Scrubbing Bubbles Bathroom Cleaner, spray it down on a cold engine and lightly rinse. Waterless after it is clean I use Meguiar's Detailer mist and 2 rags. If it is dirtier than Meguiars I use the rag I wipe the wheels of with first and the the Detailers mist.
Wax it with Turtle Wax Ice, makes it a lot easier to clean the next time.
When I did that, I used a very light mist of water to wet the engine bay before using that motorcycle engine cleaner. Then to get the motorcycle engine cleaner off, I only used the amount of water necessary, lightly misting it until it was all rinsed off.
Funny thing; I paid $13 for that bottle of S100 from a local motorcycle shop and I've only used a really small fraction of it. I've only had to clean up my engine bay one time, and now after every wash I do a quick wipe down (maybe 3 to 5 minutes) with a microfiber towel and then I dress up the plastics with Meguiar's Ultimate Black.
Granted, I don't drive my car in the rain anymore; that helps maintain the fresh look under the hood. But the quick wipe down after a wash goes a long way towards maintaining that engine bay!
02-16-2015, 04:29 PM
best engine bay clean method. both with water and without.
