How do you clean your engine compartment?
4th Gear Member
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 1,599
From:
RE: How do you clean your engine compartment?
I am going to try this method in a couple of hours. I found it on another mustang forum and the results look awesome.
Start engine[/b], get it warm, not hot, just nice and warm. As an example if the car was fully cooled, run it for 5-8 minutes. Turn off engine[/b].Cover the alternator and air filter on your intake, Aluminum foil works great since the motor is warm. Everything else can be subject to light rinsing type spray, including the covered fuse panel. All of these areas get hit by water when driven in the rain. Lightly spray entire engine[/b] bay[/b] with water from hose, you will see some light steaming, this is good.Spray the entire engine[/b] bay[/b], including firewall, plastic parts, metal parts, loom, coils and hoses with Simple Green. Set the hood down, not fully closed, just to it's safety catch point, and go find something else to do for 15 to 20 minutes. Let the simple green do it's work. Closing the hood let's the simple green interact with the steam you created with the warm motor. This loosens the tough stuff up so you don't have to work so hard in those heavily soiled areas. Open hood, look for heavily soiled areas, wipe them with a rag, use more simple green if necessary. Rinse lightly with hose. Spray entire engine[/b] bay[/b] with F-21, it foams, coat everything just like the simple green coating you did. Close hood again, walk away for 10-20 minutes or until nearly all the foam has dissipated. Open hood, Wipe up any areas that water settled and such. Wipe up any areas that the F-21 didn't dissipate on it's own. You will note that the F-21 restores the black plastic parts to the same oem flat black color they were when new.. It leaves the paint shiney with no streaks on the fenders and fire wall. Best of all, it is not greasey to the touch.
Start engine[/b], get it warm, not hot, just nice and warm. As an example if the car was fully cooled, run it for 5-8 minutes. Turn off engine[/b].Cover the alternator and air filter on your intake, Aluminum foil works great since the motor is warm. Everything else can be subject to light rinsing type spray, including the covered fuse panel. All of these areas get hit by water when driven in the rain. Lightly spray entire engine[/b] bay[/b] with water from hose, you will see some light steaming, this is good.Spray the entire engine[/b] bay[/b], including firewall, plastic parts, metal parts, loom, coils and hoses with Simple Green. Set the hood down, not fully closed, just to it's safety catch point, and go find something else to do for 15 to 20 minutes. Let the simple green do it's work. Closing the hood let's the simple green interact with the steam you created with the warm motor. This loosens the tough stuff up so you don't have to work so hard in those heavily soiled areas. Open hood, look for heavily soiled areas, wipe them with a rag, use more simple green if necessary. Rinse lightly with hose. Spray entire engine[/b] bay[/b] with F-21, it foams, coat everything just like the simple green coating you did. Close hood again, walk away for 10-20 minutes or until nearly all the foam has dissipated. Open hood, Wipe up any areas that water settled and such. Wipe up any areas that the F-21 didn't dissipate on it's own. You will note that the F-21 restores the black plastic parts to the same oem flat black color they were when new.. It leaves the paint shiney with no streaks on the fenders and fire wall. Best of all, it is not greasey to the touch.
4th Gear Member
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 1,486
From: San Diego, CA
RE: How do you clean your engine compartment?
Read the customer reviews here, I won't use this stuff.....
http://www.amazon.com/Turtle-Wax-T15.../dp/B0009JKGI8
http://www.amazon.com/Turtle-Wax-T15.../dp/B0009JKGI8
6th Gear Member
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 16,182
From: PA to KY ('07) to IL ('09) to MS ('10) to FL ('11)
RE: How do you clean your engine compartment?
I haven't cleaned my Stangyetbut I don't think I'd ever let the build-up get so bad that I'd need to presoak it with a solvent.
I intend to do what I do to my other engines: high pressure wash after covering the CAI filter and alternator (although the alternator is designed to get wet, I don't want to force any crap into it). If an area is really greasy, you can spray some household degreaser on it for a few minutes but I've never had to. Simply high pressure wash using common sense. Don't hit anything at point-blank range.
I intend to do what I do to my other engines: high pressure wash after covering the CAI filter and alternator (although the alternator is designed to get wet, I don't want to force any crap into it). If an area is really greasy, you can spray some household degreaser on it for a few minutes but I've never had to. Simply high pressure wash using common sense. Don't hit anything at point-blank range.
4th Gear Member
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 1,065
From: LI, NY
RE: How do you clean your engine compartment?
On the Stang, I use a microfiber towel to wipe off any dust and dirt every time I open the hood; which is several times a week during the summer. This prevents the dirt from nuilding up. The engine compartment looks as clean as the day I got the car.
On my other cars, I'm not quite so ****. I've used gunk engine cleaner on severly soiled engines and it's worked well. You have to make sure you don't get any water into the air cleaner and you have to be careful around electrical wires but you don't have to go crazy. After hosing everything off, I use a blower to blow off the excess water and then a towel to wipe everything down. if any areas are rusted, I either wire brush or sand them and then paint it with the appropriate color. When everything is nice and clean, you can use tire dressing on the hoses and rubber/plastic parts to bring out the shine.
On my other cars, I'm not quite so ****. I've used gunk engine cleaner on severly soiled engines and it's worked well. You have to make sure you don't get any water into the air cleaner and you have to be careful around electrical wires but you don't have to go crazy. After hosing everything off, I use a blower to blow off the excess water and then a towel to wipe everything down. if any areas are rusted, I either wire brush or sand them and then paint it with the appropriate color. When everything is nice and clean, you can use tire dressing on the hoses and rubber/plastic parts to bring out the shine.
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