my TBI engine bay is all dirty, grimey, slimey just plain nasty, I want to know what are some tips to clean my engine bay up and make it look presentable again...

I want to do this obviously without destroying my engine or getting water or any other dangerous chemicals away from my spark plugs, wires or anything else that keeps the engine going...


Any suggestions?

 

I SWEAR TO *** THATS NOT ME LOL!!!

 

although that made me laugh, that's not what I had in mind...

 

couple cans of engine degreeser, a few plastic bags to cover up the electrical stuff. (distributer) and a power washer. i used it on my car when i first bought it. my car sat for about 3 or 4 years and under the hood was filthy. i think as long as your carefull and very aware of exactly where that high pressure water is going, you wont mess anything up.

 

take a roll of painter's plastic and cover your fenders and the side of your car so you dont mess it up...get a nice spray bottle and fill it with de-greaser. spray the whole engine compartment. then take a power sprayer and hose it off real good. get another bottle and fill it with armor all. spray all plastic, anything black...wipe it if you feel like it...done in 10 minutes tops

 

Absolutely do this. At the very least just cut up a couple of large black plastic garbage bags, but either way use some blue 3M painters masking tape to hold it to the car while cleaning.
Depending on how grimy the engine bay is you may have to scrub a bit with either a stiff nylon brush or at least some rags. You can pick up a toilet brush at the grocery store for a couple of bucks: long handle, good bristles.

I'm not a big fan of pressure washing but others have used this method without problems. If you warm up the engine a bit first (not totally hot) it will help somewhat, but let the degreaser work, scrub a bit, apply more degreaser as neede, and you should be able to lightly rinse the engine bay clean. Start the car up and let it idle for a few minutes to speed the drying process.

You should end up with something like this:

 

Soap & water will not hurt anything under the hood.
If you're worried aobut the paint... plastic over it as stated then blast the ____ out of it with a pressure washing.

My RS, 150k+ mi of grimey crap + soapy water @ the carwash (shortly after getting it)...
(before.. everything was just a grey or greasy color..)

 

I prefer to spray the engine degreaser onto a sponge and apply it carefully. This way you can keep it away from all eletrical stuff, sensors, as well as all plastic parts (which include the hoses and sensor connectors). Doing it more carefully also means less likely to get any on the paint of the car. This is more time consuming but it works good for me. After applying the degreaser once, letting it sit, applying again, then I scrub with a soft/hard brush where its really gunked up. When finished I use a bucket of water and a few shop towels or misc towels and actually wipe everything down with the wet towel instead of using a hose or something (stream of water). More time consuming but also more control and you can make sure everything is clean.

Aside from cleaning the engine and engine bay you can also do a few other things that will really help the appearance. Stock radiator overflow and wiper washer reservoirs are usually stained or faded, a brand new set makes a big difference (or deleting them and going custom). TPI guys can polish the runners and plennum, TBI guys can run an open element filter. TPI guys with a faded air intake duct can sand it down w/ 400 grit and paint it (both the upper duct and the lower piece with the airboxes). I recently did this with my IROC, made a nice difference. Painting the valve covers makes a huge difference, so does a good spark plug wire loom. I recently redid the stock valve covers on my IROC black and installed the Russels wire loom, made a huge difference. Deleting the AIR system (not EGR) really helps with appearance, so does deleting the heater core hoses but all depends on the owner. Recently did this as well, big difference. If you want to go all out you can get new hood insulation, if the stock one is still there its probably faded or broken up. Another "if you want to go all out" could be something with the pulleys or accessories, taking them all off and cleaning them up, maybe painting them individually.

Whatever you do, be carefull with brake fluid. Hahaha!! I really jacked up my strut tower paint while doing a brake job.

 

Just put five of these in the engine bay taped to ~20 M80's, then get another can to fix any areas that gets a small run.


Seriously though. Try to hide wires and relocate anything that you can (charcoal canister, battery, etc). This will enable you to get more room and more room looks cleaner. Also get new bottles or those can types bottle replacements and mount them inside the fenders.

 

no plastic no tape just gunk. get the motor and engine compartment wet. stay away from distributor. gunk it down hard core 2-3cans. use a rag and gunk and hit all the jambs and painted areas. you might want to wear some plastic surgical gloves. take it to a high power do it yourself car cash and a lot of quarters. start with the underside of the hood. IMPORTANT KEEP YOUR MOTOR RUNNIN, head out on the highway.

really though keep your motor running while you hose it you hoser. spray it down from all angles and do not be afraid to hit the areas around the spark plugs in the head. DO NOT HIT THE DISTRIBUTOR hard core. a glancing blow is all you need.

keep it running and take it somewhere with compressed air. give your motor a good blow. all the cracks a creveses. no armorall that is for posers who want to do this every week. armorall will only shorten the life of you hoses and attract more dirt bieng that it is wet and dirt sticks to stuff that is wet.

 

Some engine paint, a little chrome, and a can of WD-40 go a long way.

 

 

The best stuff I've used is Greased Lightning Orange cleaner from Wal Mart. It works better than any engine degreaser that I've ever used. It even cleaned the greasy gunk from the grease fittings on my upper control arms on my Corvette. Amazing stuff, and it doesn't seem to pose any problems to the paint.

I spay it liberally on to a cool dry motor and wait 5 minutes, then hose it off, spray it down again while it's wet, and go after it with a brush of some sort to get the stubborn stuff. Hose it off again, let it dry, and you should have a much cleaner engine bay.

After that, perhaps a little armor-all on the black parts.

 

i used the engine degreaser they sell at the auto parts store and it ate the paint of my engine...might want to be careful with this

 

I use thinned out Simple Green in a spray bottle and let it soak for only short periods of time.

Any type of cleaner even the kinder gentler citric ones are still caustic.

Spray thouroughly, let soak for 5-10 min, hose down and reaaply as necessary.

Than wipe down all individual parts to get them clean on top and bottom.

Than use, wax/polish, on all bare metal/alum and something for gloss on all the hoses/plastics and the like.

later
Jeremy

 

Removing A.I.R. and breather tubes does too I see lol.

 

i used 3 cans of gunk while using a scrub brush on some of my parts and it worked wonders. I had 140k worth of buildup and crap under mine and it shined up real nicely compares to how it was. I also sprayed it all over and just hosed it off (didn't hurt my paint any nor did it say it would). Not that it won't to yours but, g/l it worked well 4 me

 

I just got a new motor

 

as far as the engine paint flaking off it will happen if you just put a high preasure stream to it unless you sand and prep the block just like you would a fender or door. You also have to prime it with high temp primer. before priming it you have to wipe it down with laquer thinner a couple of times to remove dust from sanding and grease and oil. then and only then will the paint stick to your block.

 

I was gonna mention that later. Let's start off with the simple stuff first.