Proper way to clean an engine?

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Irkie500

New member
The way I do it now is:

cover all exposed wiring and alternator with plastic bags and zip ties

spray degreaser and agitate with brushes

powerwash clean and apply dressing afterward



Anyone see anything wrong with this?



Also the mechanic that works on my dads escalade said that the alternator does not need to be covered when the car is running. Im not sure I would risk not covering one up though.
 
each car will be different on what is exposed on the engine. to be on the safe side, covering sensitive areas like the alternator, etc., isn't a bad idea (but isn't always necessary) to be on the safe side. i lightly spray down the engine (carefully using a pressure washer) and then spray APC and use a variety of brushes to get in and around and clean as much as possible. then rinse, and carefully use a leaf blower and microfiber towel to dry. finally, dress with whatever dressing (i like CD-2) you like and wipe down if necessary...

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Hows the shine and durability on that dressing? I find that using vinyl protectant causes dirt to stick to the plastics instead of repelling it.
 
Irkie500 said:
Hows the shine and durability on that dressing? I find that using vinyl protectant causes dirt to stick to the plastics instead of repelling it.
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you can always spray a light coat and buff off the excess for less shine (or heavier for high gloss). the key for me is to spray nice and liberally (like if you were lightly spray painting something) so i don't get too many runs/drips. do a search for " cd-2 " and you'll find some more info...
 
I don't see anything arong with your technique. But for 90% of the cars out there it's a huge waste of time to even bother covering wiring and such with plastic bags and zip ties. Older cars with distributer caps could benifit from covering it but most of the time it just dosen't matter. especially for most domestic cars. There are certian forgien jobbers that get a little finicky about water in the bay (BMW comes to mind) So for the thought of erroring on the side of saftey what your doing is fine.
 
Alright good to know, most of the time I do understand its fine to leave it uncovered as I dont soak then engine bay with water, just enough to get it wet and rinse it off.
 
modern engines have waterproofing on every wire, every connection, and anything that needs it. no need to cover anything unless its an inline engine and the spark plug valley is in danger of collecting water.





other than that, just do a light spray to loosen dirt, avoid connections if you can. if it has an aftermarket air filter thats exposed, wrap a bag around that, otherwise they have air boxes that keep them from getting water dropped on them.





use a foam gun or an engine cleaner (careful with the degreaser ones like engine brite, they will remove any form of wax or sealant that may be on it, and make it a little harder to dress from the heavy cleaners on the engine bay paint). so use a foam gun with some kind of citrus wash that will remove grease and dirt, but wont leave residues behind....... best to use one of the long flexible sticks with bristles on it to reach hard to get areas after the soaking. and then go ahead and rinse with water (distilled water or filtered water from the mr clean gun works good).... then blow dry it or let it air dry for a little bit and after drying as much as you can by hand and dressing as much as you can, run the engine for a little to get the rest dry, then dress whatever else you can.



engines can take a long time to do considering all the nooks and crannies, but having one of the wheel spoke brushes to get in between stuff is great.
 
the water proffing your talking about.. take apart a connector.. and look at the ribbed peice of rubber, and thats your "waterproofing "(which not all connectors have).. if that is old, or cracked, or even missing.. your out of luck, and have problems.. i was talking to my automotive professor about this the other day, who has been an ASE master certified tech for longer than I've been alive, and he says he thinks its terrible how people are so quick to spray down an engine with a cleaner, and hose it off..
 
jDizzle said:
the water proffing your talking about.. take apart a connector.. and look at the ribbed peice of rubber, and thats your "waterproofing".. if that is old, or cracked, or even missing.. your out of luck, and have problems.. i was talking to my automotive professor about this the other day, who has been an ASE master certified tech for longer than I've been alive, and he says he thinks its terrible how people are so quick to spray down an engine with a cleaner, and hose it off.
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i said modern, it takes more than 10 years for that rubber to become brittle, the rubber used in these connections is specially formulated to resisted becoming brittle under continuous high heat and cooling........ i have more than a couple cars that are older than 16-18 years old, and the rubber in the connections is still in good enough condition to keep it sealed and protected..



your professor sounds like a lot of the high school teacher who grew up with v8's and camaros, technology doesnt change much for them. and it takes a long long time for those seals to break down compared to back inthe early 1980's fuel injected vehicles that started getting a lot more electronic components added to them than just a distributor and alternator in the engine bay.







although he may just be talking about spraying in general. you can easily spray an engine BAY off, but you shouldnt use high pressure, and you shouldnt just simply spray everything, i stated before about being careful about directly spraying any connections, and directly spraying areas that could collect water like the spark plug valley.



ive met ase certified techs that are dumber than rocks though, ase isnt the be all end all of mechanics and knowledge
 
Wire harnesses (unless it used in the marine industry) isn't waterproof. Connectors corrode and if left wet can blow out sensors, fuses and electrical units. To insure this doesn't happen after washing an engine compartment, it's essential to use compressed air.
 
my automotive professor is probably the best tech ive ever met..and is deffinatley NOT one of those people who swear by technology of the past.. he actually spent a while in engine repair, and in engine performance talking about how the technology of today can produce cars the run circles around the cars of yeaterday while using less fuel, polluting less, and lasting longer... and i didnt say that ASE was the end all of mechanics and knowlege, and yes. i have also met some not so smart ase certified techs. the automotive program at my school is natef compliant, and is very up to date.. just took my exam on hybrid saftey monday... im not saying that your wrong.. and im not saying you CANT spray down an engine bay.. im just making people aware of the risks, id rather just wipe down what it visable, and use a cleaner where needed, then dress... im sure some other people who just do this on the side feel the same way.
 
jDizzle said:
my automotive professor is probably the best tech ive ever met..and is deffinatley NOT one of those people who swear by technology of the past.. he actually spent a while in engine repair, and in engine performance talking about how the technology of today can produce cars the run circles around the cars of yeaterday while using less fuel, polluting less, and lasting longer... and i didnt say that ASE was the end all of mechanics and knowlege, and yes. i have also met some not so smart ase certified techs. the automotive program at my school is natef compliant, and is very up to date.. just took my exam on hybrid saftey monday... im not saying that your wrong.. and im not saying you CANT spray down an engine bay.. im just making people aware of the risks, id rather just wipe down what it visable, and use a cleaner where needed, then dress... im sure some other people who just do this on the side feel the same way.
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well, it is good to know that he isnt one of the guys stuck in old ways teaching classes on why holley and edelbrock are the only companies that make real performance products lol.





but if you are worried about corrosion getting into plugs, go to a junk yard where you can pull your own parts. take a look at the engine bays in there, and go and pull some connectors off of some hard to reach components that havent been tampered with. youll find that sitting in the rain (if the hood was off) that the plug connections will be perfectly in tact with barely any corrosion (unless it was left off). i spent a lot of time in junk yards, and a lot of time building the cars i love to drive now.





and if you dont believe that your engine harness is made to be water proof, then id love to know why your cars harness doesnt get corrosion on the electrical connections in there in conditions that you find in hawaii in the wet season, or in any rainy season, with enough water on the road, and rain falling down, your engine sees its fair share of moisture (it may not be direct water, but moisture will cause the same failure)



but in any case, its best to NOT spray connections directly with high pressure water, or any other part of the engine with high pressure, you dont know what may or may not be going bad. the best idea is to spray down easy with a gentle spray, presoak with foam soap, agitate with a brush, then lightly spray down the residue with water avoiding direct spraying on sensitive areas as possible, and then blow drying, then coming back with a drying cloth to get the rest.
 
Turbocress said:
but if you are worried about corrosion getting into plugs, go to a junk yard where you can pull your own parts. take a look at the engine bays in there, and go and pull some connectors off of some hard to reach components that havent been tampered with. youll find that sitting in the rain (if the hood was off) that the plug connections will be perfectly in tact with barely any corrosion (unless it was left off). i spent a lot of time in junk yards, and a lot of time building the cars i love to drive now.
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Rain falling on a engine compartment and a 1800psi high powered stream of water are 2 totally different things. Not even a comparison IMHO. Plus, I see corroded electrical componets all the time on salvage parts.



Turbocress said:
and if you dont believe that your engine harness is made to be water proof, then id love to know why your cars harness doesnt get corrosion on the electrical connections in there in conditions that you find in hawaii in the wet season, or in any rainy season, with enough water on the road, and rain falling down, your engine sees its fair share of moisture (it may not be direct water, but moisture will cause the same failure)
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Harnesses and connectors are made to be semi-water resistant, not water-proof. Humidity and powerwashing an engine compartment aren't even remotely the same.



If electrical connectors, harnesses, modules, control units etc were waterproof, they wouldn't need replacing every time I inspect a car involved in fresh water flood. Water will find it's way past the connector seal and into the raw metal prongs and can corrode. I see it all the time.
 
David Fermani said:
Rain falling on a engine compartment and a 1800psi high powered stream of water are 2 totally different things. Not even a comparison IMHO. Plus, I see corroded electrical componets all the time on salvage parts.







Harnesses and connectors are made to be semi-water resistant, not water-proof. Humidity and powerwashing an engine compartment aren't even remotely the same.



If electrical connectors, harnesses, modules, control units etc were waterproof, they wouldn't need replacing every time I inspect a car involved in fresh water flood. Water will find it's way past the connector seal and into the raw metal prongs and can corrode. I see it all the time.
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this is true, thats why once again, i stated that you should avoid any direct spraying on the connections, im sorry i said waterproof, meant to say resistant, otherwise i woulda said "go ahead and spray everything directly including all the electrical connections".



there is no need to pressure wash an engine bay, and no one said anything about that.. a simple rinse, foam, soak, scrub, rinse, blow dry will do better than a pressure wash will do anyway.
 
All this talk has scared me into NOT doing an egine detail lol



I
don't see anything arong with your technique. But for 90% of the cars out there it's a huge waste of time to even bother covering wiring and such with plastic bags and zip ties. Older cars with distributer caps could benifit from covering it but most of the time it just dosen't matter. especially for most domestic cars. There are certian forgien jobbers that get a little finicky about water in the bay (BMW comes to mind) So for the thought of erroring on the side of saftey what your doing is fine.
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Can shed some more light on engine details to BMW?
 
Fresh330 said:
All this talk has scared me into NOT doing an egine detail lol



I



Can shed some more light on engine details to BMW?
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I don't have one handy but if you ever get a BMW in and it has the owners manual in it check out the section on how to properly clean the engine bay per BMW instructions. They are very strict (and in their wording about all the cladding in the correct that powerwashing a BMW engine is just not needed) about how to do it and what it voids warrenty wise is done improperly.



I tend to be a little over the top when it comes to cars I've had little experience with or have drastically changed since last I delt with them so if they have an oweners manual I tend to thumb through it looking for sections like that just in case.
 
Noting that I've *never* had any problems from getting engine compartments somewhat wet (hey, I *will* stress that I'm careful about it and I do a lot of the work with the steamer), if you're really concerned about water-related issues then you can clean with solvents.



Stuff like New Car Prep/PrepSol/3M Ahesive Remover/etc. can clean quite effectively without the need to get things wet, and whatever *does* get wet with these solvents will be dry as soon as they evaporate. Just remember that they can compromise adhesives.
 
I use New Car Prep at work all the time, I hate how it has an oil feel to it but it does clean extemely well.



Also do you have any suggestions for a solid steamer for under $200? I know its not a huge budget then again im not loaded. I just need something to help clean the really tough stuff in carpets, wheels and engine.
 
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