Need help with detailing under the hood

[MikeWinLDS]

Just read the Autopia guide in regards to cleaning under the hood and need some help in identifying and knowing which parts to "seal" off with plastic baggies or aluminum foil. Included at the bottom are some pictures of what's under the hood of my car. The only things I've done under the hood are replace the spark plugs and spark plug wires, change out the air filter and a dead battery, and add windshield washer fluid and oil.

The next very important step is to prepare your engine for getting wet. You must cover all sensors, the distributor, spark plug openings and any electrical devices that have the potential for water accumulation (which could cause a short). Use plastic baggies to cover these items. Be sure to use tape or rubber bands to hold the plastic bags in place. You're only trying to prevent the majority of the water from getting in; it does not need to be watertight. The engine environment should already be waterproof. The baggies are just a precaution.

Also, what do you guys use to clean the wheel wells of your cars? From what I can see, it looks like baked on volcanic ash! How am I supposed to clean that stuff? What about cleaning the battery and battery terminals?







Underside of the hood:

Top left quadrant:

Bottom left quadrant:

Top middle quadrant:

Bottom middle quadrant:

Top right quadrant:

Bottom right quadrant:

Removed some plastic thing on top of engine:

If you could open the picture in some editing program (like Microsoft Paint) and circling the areas I need to seal off, it would be great, or just describe it by quadrants as seen in the pictures. If you need closer, more focused pictures let me know. Thanks in advance.

 

[MikeWinLDS]

Still don't know what and where the distributor, alternator, and all the many sensors are. Also, there are tons of wires, and not sure of what electrical devices are under the hood except the battery. Anyone know and can help out, please?



The places that I know that need covering have been circled in that bright lime green, which are the spark plug covers and where the spark plug wires connect into that box thingy, the air filter intake (should I take out the air filter while cleaning or just cover it up with a towel and some aluminum foil?), and the battery and battery terminals.



Bottom Right:

Engine: