Engine Washing

A

Alan_525i

New member
I am doing it tomorrow. Some people have suggested Simple Green and a hose should be enough to get it clean (not sparkling, just clean).



Any tips?
 
I know plenty of people who use simple green. If you have the autopia ebook, it gives fantastic instructions on warming the engine, drying, ect. It’s worth the measly 14 bucks or whatever the price is (I have forgotten). Cover your electrics, alternator, ect.
 
laynlow said:
I know plenty of people who use simple green. If you have the autopia ebook, it gives fantastic instructions on warming the engine, drying, ect. It’s worth the measly 14 bucks or whatever the price is (I have forgotten). Cover your electrics, alternator, ect.
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While I agree that the Autopia e-book is a good investment, I had to comment on the "measly 14 bucks" statement. So far, I have spent the following measly's for detailing products related to things I have read on the board.

3M Paste cleaner wax $13

3M Paste carnauba $10

Meguiar's QD $23 (bought a gallon)

Platinum UPP $20

Platinum Gloss Enhancer $15

PakShak MF towels $28

Autopia e-book $11

Various Shipping Costs $20

For some reason I don't think it will probably end any time soon, either.

Oh yeah, this is in addition to the Meguiar's Medallion, 3M IHG,

Meguiar's #7, #9, Mother's Back to Black, etc., that I already had.

Ain't it fun though?



Charles
 
CharlesW said:


While I agree that the Autopia e-book is a good investment, I had to comment on the "measly 14 bucks" statement.



Charles
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Don't take that the wrong way. My point is that when you consider the amount of information available in that book, the price is ridiculously low.



Yep, them supplies do add up, don't they? :D
 
Avoid getting water anywhere near either end of your spark plugs. One end goes in your distributer and the other end goes into your engine. If you have a 4 banger then they are right on top of the valve cover. Its easier to get water down there with the plugs if they are on the valve cover. If they are on the sides, like on a V6 or V8 or something, then you have less to worry about.



You want to avoid using high pressure on anything electronic. You may not wreck anything right at the moment, but that water may cause the wires and connections to corrode and fail in the future. Definatly use low pressure when washing down the engine itself. Save the high pressure stuff for the sides and firewall.



Spray down the whole thing with degreaser. Use a good one. Simple green is a good one. Sometimes you have to give it more than one squirt. I even have a seperate wash mitt for doing engines. Under the hood can get pretty dirty and need scrubbing sometimes. If you put some time and patience into it then the result can be pretty impressive. I won't waste bandwidth with the pics again but here is a pretty good example what a little work can do for an engine.



BEFORE



AFTER



I took this pic last night when I was finished with my engine. My car is my portfolio for perspective clients so I try to keep it clean. :)



My Engine. :D
 
Dont let any of the degreasers dry, they will eat at you aluminum, and even paint. So no more than 5 mins at a time, do it as many tmes as necessary, but dont let it sit! Then spray or wipe with a dresing of your choice. For that "like new" shine. Sometimes I use clear engine paint.
 
oops! I almost forgot... this is also a great investment. CD2 Engine Detailing Kit I find it at K-Mart but I have seen it at Target and AutoZone as well. Its very worth it. Gives the engine a very nice shine. It holds up very well and doesn't gather dust as bad as some of the other things I've used that dress up the engine either. Good luck!
 
Jngrbrdman, I saw that you too have a gs-r as I do too. I've been wanting to detail my engine bay but was unsure how to go about it because I have heard of people getting water into their spark plugs and the engine not starting (scared me enough to stay away from washing the engine bay down). Anyways, how do you go about doing it in our integras? Do you avoid spraying water directly onto the valve cover and just clean that by hand? Also, a very helpful thing to do would be to take the pic of your engine bay and circle the parts with red that need to be covered somehow. If you could do that it would be GREATLY appreciated!:up
 
use a spray bottle instead of hosing down the cam/valve cover to minimize water from entering the holes... you don't really need that much water for the cam cover.
 
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