Cleaning under the hood

[ifinditundrgrnd]

Looking for a little advice for cleaning my engine bay. The car is White so the paint in the engine bay is looking pretty shabby. It just needs to be cleaned up a bit. I was going to use a spray on engine cleaner and degreaser and then use my hose to rinse the engine down. Is this a good idea? What should I do or NOT do? Will I have problems with water in the coils, etc? I would appreciate any tips/tricks/warnings about getting the engine bay as clean as possible. Thanks in advance.

 

[benleonheart]

Cover the alternator, coil packs with a plastic bag...

 

[RichM1983]

I know people say to cover the COP's and alternator and you should be fine but I just don't trust it. I have heard to many stories of people frying something and needing to spend a bunch of money just because they didnt take the time to hand wipe the engine down.

My engine was pretty nasty and I used some strong paper towels and a cleaner to wipe everthing down I could reach or see. The engine bay is nice and clean, almost new and I didn't have to worry about frying anything. It only took an hour or so.

 

[cyberdude47]

Get some body shop thinners and wipe down what you can for painted items and aluminum to clean it up. then wash with a good degreaser, I use oven cleaner and then some simple green. once rinsed spray liberally with a good non greasy detailer. let partially dry or use a compressor to get rid of excess water then lightly spray again with detailer then get a cloth and wipe down larger plastic items to prevent spotting and dust build up from being oily. and it should come out nice. this is how a detail shop will do it.