I want to clean my engine (planning on doing this every 2000 miles or so mainly for asthetics) but years ago to do this you only had to make sure the engine was running and warm but in todays world, where cars are full of itsy bitsy complicated and delicate sensors and chips and all sorts of hi-tech digiwhatsits whats the best way of going about this.
i dont own a pressure washer so it would be a trip to the nearest jet wash, would a degreaser be
a. damaging to apply at home and then remove at the jet wash
b. would degreaser be likely to render me unconsious halfway there as it heats up on the engine allowing noxious gases to seep into the cabin.
c. be permenantly welded to the engine by the time i got to the jet wash
also what needs masking or will having the engine running be ok
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My advice - dont do it!
however, if a spotless engine is your thing, then I certainly wouldn't want degreaser on a hot engine. In fact I wouldn't use degreaser at all, a thin film of oil will stop everything rusting up.
As for the electrics - lots of tape and plastic bags and then be carefull where you point the spray.
My Supra has a spotless engine bay and I've never steam cleaned it. But then it only does about 1k miles per year.
My Audi is 9 years old and does about 15k per year - never steam cleaned that either and the engine while not spotless, certainly isn't covered in mess.
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IMHO don't use a jet wash! - if you must wash your engine do it by hand. You can buy a degreaser from a variety of sources (either brush-on or spray) and then use a paint brush and low pressure garden hose/watering can/bucket and sponge, to remove it. A pressure washer will (more often than not) lead to grief eventually (sometimes long after the event). Everything under the bonnet is 'shower proof' at least but try to keep away from the ECU and treat all electrical connections with care.
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why make work for yourself. Unless you're going to enter the car in a show, what's the point.
You'd be better off spending time looking after the bodywork. Besides if you clean the engine and come to sell the car, a clean bay looks very suspicious to a prospective buyer.
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I want to clean my engine (planning on doing this every 2000 miles....
Did you miss a zero off? My Vectra has done nearly 30,000 miles and apart from a fine layer of dust that occasionally gets wiped off the plastic engine and battery covers, it's as clean as the day it left the factory.
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Going off at a slight tangent, I would never again buy a used car which has had the engine steam cleaned. I did it once and the car was back at the dealer within weeks with a request that they cure the engine oil leak. Fortunately it was still under the manufacturer's warranty.
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Surely that was to your advantage?
That oil leak may not have been so evident had the engine NOT be cleaned.
In addition, the way oil tends to migrate on most engines, cleaning the engine helps to pinpoint the exact location of any leakage.
Surely the oil pressure and heat produced within an engine must be far higher than the pressure/heat from a pressure washer or hosepipe, so i don't think the cleaning process would have led to any leak.
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I use hot water and washing up liquid, applied with an old sponge, then a low pressure rinse with a hose. Then, if winter`s approaching I spray all the alloy engine parts with WD40.
Edited by oilrag on 26/06/2008 at 09:24
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Household washing powder, dissolved in warm water, and sprayed on with a squeezy bottle, also works a treat.
For those tempted to clean their own engines, remember to relubricate throttle likages etc after the job is done.
Also, make sure you actually have the old WD40 handy BEFORE you start! Don't presume 'there's some in the shed'... like I did...
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I got this done once on a diesel Renault, the valeter used a jetwash and bagged various components. He reckoned diesels were easier as there was less chance of something getting damaged. I used to do my own maintenance and preferred to start with a clean slate in those days.
When buying cars from main dealers the engine bays are generally very clean so they must do it as part of their prep. I remember when we had a 99V RAV4 - the engine bay was as new even at six years old.
Personally I don't bother keeping the engine bay clean, my 53 plate Vectra is filthy. I don't know how Dave's has managed to stay clean.
The general advice is not to bother. If it ain't broke don't fix it.
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Surely the oil pressure and heat produced within an engine must be far higher than the pressure/heat from a pressure washer or hosepipe so i don't think the cleaning process would have led to any leak.
Sorry, I didn't explain properly. What I meant was that if the engine hadn't been steam cleaned I would have seen that it had a sizeable oil leak and I wouldn't have bought it. I assume it had been steam cleaned to remove the evidence of the oil leak.
Edited by L'escargot on 26/06/2008 at 19:49
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