This may sound really stupid but is it bad to pressure wash an engine? like how can i get it clean and such?
I use half a bottle of water mixed with this bottle of... gahdamnit brain freeze. It's green liquid and I know it's environmental friendly because it's like 5 bucks a bottle. I'll try to look it up later, but yeah I use half and half and it cleans most my engine bay, other than the spots that need a little scrubbin. Pressure washing won't do much in my opinion, you're going to need some kind of degreaser or strong cleaner. Have fun and take pics when you're done.
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2208703
I pressure wash mine just about every time I detail the car. Just make sure water can't get into the engine itself and you'll be okay. If you have an open element air filter, for instance, cover it. I use a plastic bag and just tie it around the filter so it shields it from water. Same with my breather elements. I also recommend making sure your plug wires have dielectric grease inside the connectors to keep them from shorting. Trust me, I learned the hard way. I replaced my coil packs and plugs and wires one weekend, got distracted, and forgot to grease the terminals on the coil packs, which happen to be under the intake, in a perfect place to get wet. I went through the automatic wash, and the underbody spray shorted out one of the coil towers and fried the pack. I had to limp the car down the street to the parts store on three cylinders to get a new one. That'd be the most expensive car wash I've ever bought.
The green stuff is probably Simple Green.
I use good ole' engine degreaser on mine, wirks fine, but don't get it on the paint if you can help it. Also, make sure the enigne is cooled off before you spray. You don't want a cracjed exhaust manifold or worse yet a cracked block. It never happened to me, but I've seen it happen before. Cold water and hot cast iron don't lke eachother too much.
The picture isn't the best, but here's the result after some stuff called "Crud Remover" from Advance Auto. It's made by a company here in Iowa. Works really well and won't damage paint. After I did some engine work my entire engine bay was just horrible. The valve cover was practically black from grease and dirt, the intake looked nasty with greasy finger prints and whatnot, and my firewall were covered in grime to the point the paint barely showed through. Now it looks good as new.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edited Tuesday, December 26, 2006 6:31 PM
