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what's the best way to clean an engine bay?
can you tell i haven't worked on my XJ in a while?
**harrumph**
i have a list a mile long of long over-due maintenance things as well as a
long list of fixes & mods that need addressing. the neglected engine bay
has too many years of dusty/muddy/oily gook caked along its innerds. best
part about it is that chicks dig it. worst of all, it makes for gookie
workie. so i wanna gussie it all up a bit before working on vital things
that make it go.
so, am i looking at a healthy mist of industrial cleaner/degreaser followed
my a hose-down washing; should i turn it up a notch or two with a 43,000 psi
pressure washer; or am i relagated to prison fare with a toothbrush and
waaaay too much time?
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Found using over cleaner and left over night the best for getting rid of old greasy mess. Just use a high pressure washer in the morning.
Don't use on flaky paint as will wash off with it. I used it on the D44's I used to bring over.
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i think i'd stick to the first few steps and hold back on the
pressure washer; an inordinately high number of electronics failures
seem to occur immediately after pressure washing.
besides, once you start cleaning on something like this it's hard to
not clean the dirty stuff next to it, and you end up with a *project*.
i'd just give it all a light spraying with Simple Green or the like and
gently hose it down, maybe giving it a little extra care in the area(s)
you need to work on.
moreover, if it's *too* clean, it's going to look like it *needs* to
be cared for frequently, and you don't want people thinking that of a
J**p, do you? ;-)
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use several cans of Gunk degreaser- start with the engine kind of warm, spray it down and let it sit a bit. Hose off, using regular hose pressure and a nozzle to bump up the pressure a bit. Let dry (gunk doesn't work well on an already wet engine), and repeat, until as clean as you want. I've used gunk on engines and gotten them clean enough to paint. use it on anything in the engine compartment.
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I'm going to say toothbrush and I hope my prize is watching you do it : )
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Great recipes!
Gunk (toxic)
Simple Green (non-toxic but AFAIK it will clean out the grease in electrical contacts)
Oven Clean (see Gunk)
My preference is Foaming Gunk on a warm engine at a car wash where it all goes down their drain and I can use HOT water to really get things clean. Cold water isn't as good as HOT water. ;-)
Make sure your spark plug wires and ign coil can handle the moisture so you can start the engine back up.
For a quickie clean I just use Simple Green and my pressure washer.
I wonder how Dawn and hot water would do along with some elbow grease using a brush. I use Dawn in cases of oil spills in the cooling systems.
I have heard that Oven Cleaner will clean off the really baked on oil crap on the inside of engine components like oil pans or valve covers or BBQ grills.
Check out my Jeep Cherokee
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oven cleaner, aye?
any big issues with electrical, ignition, etc with the pressure washer
rinse?
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moreover, if it's *too* clean, it's going to look like it *needs* to
be cared for frequently, and you don't want people thinking that of a
J**p, do you? ;-)
truer words have never been spoken, e!
but i think i'd be looking for a heavier cutter than simple green. Marcus
mentioned oven cleaner. interesting choice. any others that might be a
little friendlier to electricals?
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any special treatment for electricals?
(can you see a trend here?)
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I just remember that presoaking is the best. Warm the engine up and then spray it down with engine Gunk and let it sit for a half hour or so then spray it off.
May take 2 or more apps but the results are surprising.
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Not for me, but I get the impression you're a little more vehicle-meticulous than i am :)
Like I said, "if your engine bay is anything like my XJ's..." I'm at the you-can-scoop-it-off-with-a-dull-spoon level right now!
We are currently housing my in-laws' used, garage sale pressure washer. I'm told it works. Maybe I'll test it out this spring and clean the engine bay, especially if I'm doing intake and headers; just get in there and freshen the place up a bit!
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I just use a pressure washer. then after, spray down all your electrical
with WD40. if it has trouble starting then usually a quick spray of WD40
in the dis cap will clean that up.
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Maybe, I would just be overly cautious about getting water/soap,etc in
electrical gear in the engine bay, theres plenty of it and it will give
you grief if it gets wet/fouled from any cleaners or water...but you
knew that already ;-)
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just picked up a few cans o' gunk. interesting thing is, on the can, they
say specifically to have the engine cold before applying.
wonder if that's just a liability thing in the rare case of aerosol fires,
etc?
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i'm not much for meticulous and clean. i'm more of a mechanically sound and
functional kinda guy.
BUT, as i'm getting ready to tear into things under the hood and around the
drive train, i'd like to start off clean on the outside so outside junk
doesn't mess up the inside ticking.
plus, it's no fun getting 5-lb gobs of dirt falling onto your noggin as
you're trying to drop a transfer case or sum'n.
off to spray and spray again now!!
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I have used a pressure washer for years under by bonnet and never once had trouble. But I don't aim right at electrical connections and wouldn't use the oven cleaner there either.
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welp, the Gunk and pressure washing wins!!!
the Gunk i got was a "gel" formula. so, it stuck where i put it pretty well
and ate in pretty well, too. warmed the motor up a bit (it STARTED!!! ; )
before applying and then trailered it to the local car wash for a good
hosing.
everything cleaned up pretty well, but a second application was probably
needed on the tougher spots. but, all-in-all, it's MORE than clean enough
to work on and then get dirty again!!!
all "Gunk-and-pressure-washers" feel free to hit me back channel to claim
your prize.
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i drove it on after cobbling together a rear driveshaft. the funnest part
was getting the trailer out from beside the garage through 1'+ of snow.
good times.
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I'll definitely have to try this out. It would be nice to have a relatively quick and easy way to clean that out.
Nothing like sticking your arm down one side of the motor only to have it come back with a quarter inch of goop pasted on like butter spread.
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or having to chip away at kiln fired mud & muck that has built up all over everything....
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yup.
i recommend it.
best part was that i had no issues with start-up once the cleaning was done.
and i wasn't "too" careful with keeping things off electricals, because the
electricals were pretty nasty, too. so i Gunked 'em along with everything
else.
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i'll be sure to take pics of the "after", as well as the other mods & fixes
i'm about to embark on.
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The last 2 motors I degreased (the 5.9 that went into the wife's Durango, and the Cummins that soon replaced it) were both cleaned by rolling the hoist over to the part's washer and dangling the engines over it, while doing a thorough job of cleaning the engine (and myself). I then used Gunk and a water rinse last, because Gunk doesn't leave a residue, so I could paint after.
Funny thing was, the "nasty diesel" (as most think) required very little cleaning, while the Dodge engine was covered. It actually required a putty knife even before it went to the part's washer.
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Yeah, I'm thinking I'll need to scrape the worst of it first. I'm not looking to paint, just to make it not awful. I'd like to see the "before" picture
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again, me sorry for no "before" pics.
slackin' on the job.
fwiw, what i had a solid layer of gook over everything. no real big mounds
of anything. it was a buildup if years of spewing oil (from the exhaust of
the ARB air solenoids, cuz my york passes pump oil through the system)
followed by dusty trails and then some muddy ones. there were pools of this
oil on the flat spots in front of the wheel wells. and it wouldn't take but
a split second to fill your fingernails full of the gook if you raked them
*anywhere* under the hood.
now, it's not totally clean, but at least my arms aren't covered by the
proverbial gook when i go to check the oil level.
i used about a can and a half under the hood before heading to the car wash.
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