Washing The Engine Bay

[Jay6]

Hi All,

I fancy washing the engine bay as I have never done it since I have owned the car and it could do with a good clean.

I was planning just to hose it down and use a bit of car shampoo and let it dry itself.

However is there any risk to the engine parts? (I still want my car to start) Do I need to cover any parts before I tackle the job, will this have any negative effect on the engine.

Thanks

Jay

[Gord]

Just remember.......water & electric's dont mix very well :winky:

[TomCooper]

steam cleaning is the best way mate, but always a good idea to spray the bay with something like wd40 afterwards (ie pipes wires etc)

[Asi]

get a cloth and spray all bits and clean.

[aztecbandit1]

I use tyre foam on mine and comes up a treat, just spray it all over a warm engine and wipe off any excess and let it dry to a nice shine ;)

[Asi]

i used stainless cleaner. worked fine but dirt came back lol so needs a clean again will trye tyre foam.

[Gord]

steam cleaning is the best way mate, but always a good idea to spray the bay with something like wd40 afterwards (ie pipes wires etc)

WD40 is the last thing you should use, its full of water :winky:

[Steviewevie]

You could cover any electrical bits with cling film, that will protect them if you're going to use a hose in there.

[Parthiban]

If you just ran a hose over at very low pressure could that still damage electrics? Surely they should all be protected from water for when it's raining?

[TommyH]

If you just ran a hose over at very low pressure could that still damage electrics? Surely they should all be protected from water for when it's raining?

Dont you have a bonnet mate

[Parthiban]

Dont you have a bonnet mate

Lol

Yeah but in heavy rain surely a fair amount of water must come through the grille?

[Asi]

Dont you have a bonnet mate

Lol

Yeah but in heavy rain surely a fair amount of water must come through the grille?

not really mate as most of the electronic stuff is at the top right hand side

[Steviewevie]

I don't know for sure, but if I was putting a hose in my engine bay, even under low pressure, I would want to protect my electrics. It's not as if the engine bay usually gets covered in road dirt, especially at the top, so I can't imagine that much comes in there.

[King85]

Don't put a hose under thats just a bad idea from the start, the engine bay is pretty small, get cloth and some spray and use abit of elbow grease :)

[Asi]

better been safe than sorry.

[Steviewevie]

It's fine to use a hose or even a pressure washer in your engine bay if you want to, you just need to protect the electrics and anything else you don't want getting wet (e.g. induction kit air filter).

[Parthiban]

Cheers, was just a question really, I've never cleaned my engine bay and if I did probably would just use a damp cloth to wipe off the most obvious areas :)

[Asi]

i hardly ever clean mine either mate. will clean some time this week.

[Gord]

It's fine to use a hose or even a pressure washer in your engine bay if you want to, you just need to protect the electrics and anything else you don't want getting wet (e.g. induction kit air filter).

I would never ever use pressure washer in my engine bay, there are to many electrical connections that can and would get wet :o you are better using Gunk or some other engine cleaner, put on with small brush, then rinse with water and cloth/ sponge :winky: thats the way ive always do mine with not problems (yet)

[Asi]

i would never risk using a pressure washer. would rather take my time and being safe.

[King85]

Pressure washers can push grit and dirt into gaps that they wouldn't usually go in, more harm than good really. As asi said, take your time and do a good job, it's one of those things that your only really going to do annually

[Steviewevie]

Whenever you use a pressure washer, you need to use common sense. I would never use my pressure washer on its maximum settings and finest jet anywhere near my car, because it would probably strip paint and/or cause other damage. Similarly, I don't think it would be a good idea to use a pressure washer at maximum settings in the engine bay. But pressure washers do typically have adjustable settings, you know :winky:

[Jobow]

What you need is:

Autoglym Machine Cleaner.

A microfibre cloth

Soak the machine cleaner into the damp microfibre cloth and wipe away!

Rinse out the cloth when its full of dirt.

I find this very effective for cleaning, plus you dont have cover any parts up

[King85]

My washers setting options are on/off lol i'm pretty sure it's the height of technology :)

[Steviewevie]

My washers setting options are on/off lol i'm pretty sure it's the height of technology :)

Lol. Actually my washer only has an on/off on the body too. But how about the nozzle/gun, on mine you can alter the width of the spray (which has a major affect at how strong the jet is) as well as also moving it between higher and lower pressure modes (via a different part of the nozzle).