Engine bay clean

[BRAV-OH!!]

What is best for a general clean of the engine bay to remove all the usual filth that collects such as road salt, general dirt and grit etc and also some soot from around the turbo area from when the turbo was leaking some exhaust gas a while back.

I was gonna just use a damp cloth and a bucket of soapy water with a towel to dry off as I went but is there anything that'll make the job easier to do?

 

[Adrian09]

Off the shelf products:
. Autoglym Engine & Machine Cleaner
. Gunk Engine Cleaner
. Muc Off Degreaser
. Stardrops All Purpose Cleaner(Asda or most supermarkets)

If you wish to order online, Bilt Hamber Surfex HD is a very good degreaser

 

[BRAV-OH!!]

Off the shelf products:
. Autoglym Engine & Machine Cleaner
. Gunk Engine Cleaner
. Muc Off Degreaser
. Stardrops All Purpose Cleaner(Asda or most supermarkets)

If you wish to order online, Bilt Hamber Surfex HD is a very good degreaser

Thanks. Secondly. Is a damp cloth and drying as I go the best way? I don't want to go cleaning the bay then finding all sorts of lights alluminated on my dash the next time I start the car as water has got where it shouldn't whilst cleaning

 

[Andy Monty]

What i do and so far have only had one bit of trouble (with a ford) is

as above use surfex HD it is REALLY GOOD STUFF!

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/products/products/277213/pressure_washer_shampoos_tested.html




Anyhow how i do it

start with a 10% mix of surfex mixed with water and apply to a cool engine (avoiding saturating anything electronic)

((the way i look at it rightly or wrongly is that anything in the engine bay is water resistant as the amount that must come in to the bay when driving on the motorway in heavy rain must get almost everywhere))

use a selection of brushes to agitate as much as you can any really stubborn spots try 1:4 or even neat if really bad......

once its been well stired up and you dont think you have missed any

use a watering can with a fine rose to rinse the bay well (again avoiding directly soaking the electrics)


start the car


and clean the bonnet underside

let it idol then apply Autoglym Vinyl and rubber care or autoglym instant tyre dressing very libberally all over the engine bay (not the paint work but the engine and plastics etc)


Close the bonnet and let it "cook" for half an hour or so from the heat from the engine

 

[BRAV-OH!!]

What i do and so far have only had one bit of trouble (with a ford) is

as above use surfex HD it is REALLY GOOD STUFF!

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/products/products/277213/pressure_washer_shampoos_tested.html




Anyhow how i do it

start with a 10% mix of surfex mixed with water and apply to a cool engine (avoiding saturating anything electronic)

((the way i look at it rightly or wrongly is that anything in the engine bay is water resistant as the amount that must come in to the bay when driving on the motorway in heavy rain must get almost everywhere))

use a selection of brushes to agitate as much as you can any really stubborn spots try 1:4 or even neat if really bad......

once its been well stired up and you dont think you have missed any

use a watering can with a fine rose to rinse the bay well (again avoiding directly soaking the electrics)


start the car


and clean the bonnet underside

let it idol then apply Autoglym Vinyl and rubber care or autoglym instant tyre dressing very libberally all over the engine bay (not the paint work but the engine and plastics etc)


Close the bonnet and let it "cook" for half an hour or so from the heat from the engine

Thanks. Good advice to follow. Although I am just looking to give the bay the once over rather than get in as new.

 

[Andy Monty]

the rubber care makes it easy to clean next time ;-)

 

[austenw90]

WD40 all the way!

 

[Dcthebear]

Amen to WD40 cleans plastics, metals and rubber beautifully and gives it protection from water. Big no no on any water near the electronics, basic engineering.

 

[sludgeguts]

I've got a wallpaper steamer with various attachments, one of which is a trigger nozzle which allows a bit of pressure build up and is great for degreasing an engine etc.

 

[Andy Monty]

wd-40 contains petroleum distillates not the best thing to regularly coat plastic with it embrittles it and rubber

http://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/6226/when-should-i-not-use-wd-40

 

[PuntoHowTo]

another problem with WD40 is that everything sticks to it so makes it harder to clean next time.
Andy Montys advice above is pretty damn good i use the trade version of the autoglym plastic and rubber dressing, as for degreasers you can use almost any i've used the expensive Autoglym Engine & Machine Cleaner, i've also used Cilitbang and even cheap £1 kitchen degreasers they all essentially contain the same things.