Do you clean your engine???

[VintagePorscheG]

Every Oil Change, after I am all done I spray the underside and topside down with a mild degreaser and then hose that puppy off... it still looks brand new and has 6000 miles on it.

I hate working on some old greasy pos.

Thats why I dont think I will ever be a mechanic for hire...

 

[KingKobra]

:read: The manual advises covering the fuse box, the intake filter cover, and the battery terminals before spraying with water! I'd imagine us snorkle-free folks are either covering the hole in the intake or we are not spraying around there!

 

[SoCalBlk03]

Originally posted by DD2000GT
Simple Green is the best stuff I have found for cleaning the engine bay. I keep two big bottles on hand at all times in my garage.

Here's something to think about. A few years ago we were forbidden to use Simple Green to clean military aircraft anymore. The reason... it would eat the seals on just about everything. A lot of crew chiefs used to clean their aircraft rims with it and they sure would look pretty. The next morning though you would run the risk of having flat tires. You have any idea how hard it is to change a flat tire on a 20T + aircraft?? Now not that this would happen to our cars but the stuff we used was off the shelf ie. what you would get from your local autoparts store. The point is though be very careful what you spray on your engine and tires.

 

[ubenbit]

MY wife bought me my cobra for x-mas (purchased 12-26-02). I only have 622 miles on it now and I dont ever intend on driving it in foul weather. However, I was just thinking that the first thing I'm going to do when the weather breaks is give it a bath including cleaning the engine compartment. I agree with REDHOTSNAKE, I think washing your engine every time you wash your car might be a bit too much. I would have to think that applying cleaners and water to an engine frequently might at the very least, damage an altenator which I believe has some sort of special grease or coating on it's windings. I generally do mine once every three or four months.

 

[GIDIEUP]

Originally posted by SoCalBlk03
Here's something to think about. A few years ago we were forbidden to use Simple Green to clean military aircraft anymore. The reason... it would eat the seals on just about everything. A lot of crew chiefs used to clean their aircraft rims with it and they sure would look pretty. The next morning though you would run the risk of having flat tires. You have any idea how hard it is to change a flat tire on a 20T + aircraft?? Now not that this would happen to our cars but the stuff we used was off the shelf ie. what you would get from your local autoparts store. The point is though be very careful what you spray on your engine and tires.

Yikes,

Looks like I will not be using simple green. I was very impressed with the way it cleans greesy parts, but didn't know about problems with rubber.

 

[electricstorm]

every 6 mos. or so I get it fully shampooed - no matter what the car is - whether it's a Geo metro (well, never owned one, but if I did I'd shampoo it every 6 mos) or my 02' lightning -
I HAVE to drive my lightning right now - It's brand new! Or it is to me.....

 

[VintagePorscheG]

this is what I use... its safe... I think you simply have another case of Military Intelligence at work here.

Just because they told you that you were forbidden from using that on your planes doesn't mean that they told you the real reason why... In my experience most of these things have to do with money, and knowing that, of course they don't want to give that as a reason why...



http://www.simplegreen.com/products/consumer/automotive1info.html

 

[NMRAcer]

Under the hood?
Hell yes.
But i do take it one step further. Tell me if this is crazy and obsessive.
After a good wash i take it on post to the auto skills shop put her up on a lift and copletely detail the underside too. You could eat off my rear control arms. and i also use an armor all type product on the gas tank cover so it shines from behind too. I could just imagine what the folks at the dealer think of me when they get it on thier lift and see what they have to werk with.

 

[TXFLYME1]

Originally posted by NMRAcer
Under the hood?
Hell yes.
But i do take it one step further. Tell me if this is crazy and obsessive.

I think that's pretty awesome that you take care of it that well. You just gave me an excuse not to hang out with the wifee, but go and play with the car!

 

[NMRAcer]

Rain?

Yeah she saw rain once. I opened the garage once while it was raining. Thats the closest she'll ever get to the wet stuff.:beer:

 

[zzzzzer]

I wipe down the engine bay at least once per week. Yeah, its just a Cavalier and yeah its a '95, but its a '95 Cavalier with one good looking engine bay. :thumbsup: Its just nice to pop the hood at the car wash and have people w/ nicer cars drop over to give props for how its kept...and have them go into shock when they find out the car has 188,000 miles on it.

Besides, if you don't take care of what you have now you won't take care of what you get in the future. Just my view on it. Anyway, I'm pretty obsessive compulsive w/ neatness and dirty engine bays literally make me nauseas...lol

 

[KenCobra03]

I have been washing the engine bay in my cars for years.
I usually use the Gunk engine spray on my cars.
I never considered Simple Green, even though I know
its a really good cleaner.My 03 Cobra has 180 miles and
needs an engine bay cleaning already.

 

[08snake]

Originally posted by DD2000GT
Simple Green is the best stuff I have found for cleaning the engine bay. I keep two big bottles on hand at all times in my garage.

Ditto!!!!

 

[08snake]

Originally posted by SoCalBlk03
Here's something to think about. A few years ago we were forbidden to use Simple Green to clean military aircraft anymore. The reason... it would eat the seals on just about everything. A lot of crew chiefs used to clean their aircraft rims with it and they sure would look pretty. The next morning though you would run the risk of having flat tires. You have any idea how hard it is to change a flat tire on a 20T + aircraft?? Now not that this would happen to our cars but the stuff we used was off the shelf ie. what you would get from your local autoparts store. The point is though be very careful what you spray on your engine and tires.

I would never use it concentrated. The stuff I've seen in the military was heavy concentrated stuff. I would cut that 3:1 with water. Just my $.02

 

[COBRA90GT]

Originally posted by DD2000GT
Simple Green is the best stuff I have found for cleaning the engine bay. I keep two big bottles on hand at all times in my garage.

Same here. Simple Green flat out works. :beer:

 

[kens03cobra]

Here's clean, and the SONIC BLUE touch up paint matches and looks great IMO on the blower and the TB:-D

 

[03 Red Cobra]

When I picked up the car just about 3 weeks ago, the car was filthy from road salt and grime from the transport from Dearborne. It was also filthy under the hood. Somehow during the transport to the dealership, I imagine the tractor trailer carrying my car must have traveled along I-80 or I-90 and I guess the truck traveled trough one or more snow storms and all the road spray from other vehicles got the car and under the hood. It took a good hour to clean under the hood and I even had to clay bar some of the paint to remove the residue. That clay bar works wonders.

 

[harry gilbert]

Last year I sold a 4-year old car that I used as a daily driver. Had never cleaned the engine compartment. Got the engine warm, gave it a Simple Green treatment and hose-off, followed by dry, then used Armor-All. The engine compartment looked showroom new. So, short of allowing salt-induced corrosion, there's no need to overdo the engine compartment cleaning.

 

[davidmax]

Heck at Xtreme motorrsports we ploish Eatons in house.To get a good engine bay clean use a NU-Vinyl type pilymerr you would use on your tire.Idle to oprating temp and wipe off and spreay.
It sometimes takes a 2nd application but on step #2 use some detergent(409,or simple green and wipe and rince then repeat with polymer on dry surface ,very thin coat.Dave S.

 

[Rocket]

Slightly obsessed here.
Detail the C%$# out of the car weekly.
Wipe down all reachable areas after each
wash. Haven't had to do the complete
washdown of the engine bay yet, even
with 6k plus daily driver miles, it's still
clean albiet a little dusty at times. From my
own obsessive experience, if you clean
the engine with foamy brite gunk, simple green
or other products they work great. The
eventual problem you MAY have is caused
by using regular tap water. Depending on
your water "really hard water here" there
are some areas you wont be able to dry off.
The tap water WILL corrode the plated nuts
and bolts wich looks cruddy. The only way to
eleviate this is by using D.I. water and L.P.
air. The minerals in tap water cause corrosion
on lots of things. The demineralized water
has no minerals in it and therefore leaves
no residue to corrode plated parts.