so yeah, we have bad water restriction due to lack of rain here in NJ, and i wanted to wash my car so i took it to the local shammy-shine (car wash) and because of so many stories i hear about drive thru washes i took it to the manual spray wash. and im washin it and i see a button that has a picture of a guy sprayin his engine. has anyone acutally sprayed their engine at the car wash? if so how did it come out? and did you have to cover anything up?
thanks
mike

 

Thats how I always do it.

Basically... first I take off the aircleaner and cover the carb and distributor with foil. Also cover the alternator just in case. Then I spray everything down with soap using the big hose thing. Then I spray whatever engine degreaser I brought with me all over the engine bay. Wait a few minutes... and blast away with water. I go out of my way to be careful around the carb, distributor, alternator, and anything else with exposed wires.

Works well. Never had a problem with screwing anything up.

 

was the engine nice and shiny?
i was thinkin about taking a freezer bag, placing it over the parts, then taping it at the base, think this will work?
what kinda engine cleaner did ya bring?

 

Yeah it looks nice when you're done. Theres still some touching up to be done in the areas where you have to be careful.

Yeah that'll work. I forgot that I do that for some small stuff... like the hose that goes from the valve cover to the air cleaner. I just put a sandwich bag over it and wrap a rubber band around it real tight.

I forget what degreaser I use.. been a while. I'd recognize the can...heh. I get it at walmart.. I think its called engine bright. It comes in a big white aresol can.

 

Why take off the aircleaner? I just leave mine on, but I don't powerwash. At home I just spray my cleaner on it, and let the water from the hose run out, not hard spray or anything.

 

Just seems like a bad idea to soak the air filter.. especially when I have to drive the car home...heh. It also covers up some stuff.

 

this is what i was told to do is just place some couple rags over the top of the carb and powerwash the motor, its okay to get the distributor cap wet, what you do is after you're done pull off the cap and spray WD-40 on the inside of the cap, apparently WD-40 will rid the cap of moisture, i'm going to try this the next time i wash the motor, is this a bad idea???

 

I always understood it that you could do whatever, so long as you let it all dry out before you go driving it.... wouldn't that work? I mean, obviously, don't go spraying water right on the distributer, but use some common sense and let it dry out... I need to go buy some gunk cleaner and simple green and have at my compartment again, more thurough this time.

 

I think that it would be alright to get the distributer wet, I would just reccommend not letting it get wet while it is hot. I imagine a hot distributer cap, and cold water would lead to some cracks that you dont want .... just a thought though.

Z

 

<font color=red><h4>Any of you got some pix of this before and after or just after?

 

Nope... I haven't taken any engine pics since I installed it since it hasn't changed at all.

 

I always have done this, but I make one minor change I make sure the engine is running. That way nothing will die out on you and if it starts to, than you know to stop spraying in that area. Helps, because you don't want to drown your equipment and than not to be able to drive home for a couple of hours

James

 

ehhh doesn't sound like a great idea, but in theory it would work. after all the reason it is called WD40=wd=water displacement and 40=the 40th formula they tried. still i wouldn't do it, but hey, it's your car.
sounds like a cracked block just waiting to happen.....

 

I just used a garden hose, and lots of simple green. works good. just make sure ur engine is cold.

 

The block is always cold. No chance in cracking, same engine since 88 can't be wrong :-)

 

I just did some cleaning last night on my engine... Took out some more dead weight (A/C stuff and eem smog) Got some oil eater, sprayed that on the front of the block where nothing was in the way anymore, took the hose, set it on sharp streem and blasted away after letting it set for about 3 min. Everything was black before then after it looked brand new. Chevy orange block, black timing chain cover, bare metal fuel pump, nice shiny steel braided fuel line Not to mention, the 12 lbs of smog stuff I took off lol

 

I bought a can of engine degreaser but I'm scared to use it. It says that it might stain the asphalt driveway (I know brake cleaner leaves a mark... Shh, wasn't me. ) Any expereinces with that? I guess I could just hit the manual wash right beside work on the way home one day...

 

Thats why I go to the car wash to do it... my dad told me to do it there because the degreaser can stain or eat away at asphalt. So rather than take the chance I just drive to the local do it yourself with a bigass hose car wash

 

stone driveway, i'm actually glad about that for once! i'm still scared to shoot water in there, but it has to be done no matter what degreaser you use huh? i don't like the idea, but looks like i gotta lift up my skirt and grab my ***** and try it ughhhh i want a waterless degreaser. also my tpi cover is all like spotted looking, will the degreaser take that off? or should i buy something else?

 

A 2:1 mix of Purple Power is what I always use and a plastic wheel brush to scrub around everything.