Engine Cleaning

OUMike · January 23, 2005

Hey everyone,

I was wondering if anyone had any methods for really giving your motor a good cleaning. My ol' 94' 4.3L has all kinds of gunk and what on the valve covers and I'd realy like to clean the whole motor.

I've heard of people talk about like a foam degreaser where you foam the motor up and then let it sit. Then rince with high pressure. Anyone ever heard of this or tried it??

My concern is obviously electrical, computers, injection ect. I don't wanna get water/cleaner anyplace where it shoudlnt' be.

Thanks for the help fellas..

Mighty HD · January 23, 2005

People panic over getting water on their engines...lol I think it's funny and I laugh every time I hear it.

I simply use "purple power", or simple green, soak the whole engine bay with it, and rinse it off with a hose. I soak everything. I have never had a problem with all the vehicles I have owned.

Don't worry about covering the alternator or other stupid stuff. Just soak it all and when it's clean, put a good coat of armor-all detailer's advantage tire foam on everything. It'll look just like the day you bought it.

As a matter of fact I just did mine about 2 hours ago on the work truck, my personal truck and the car.

If you want pics I'll walk out and get a shot of the engines..lol

budhayes3 · January 23, 2005

My personal experience, you just have to be careful and pay attention. On a vehicle with good ignition components, wires, and sealed connections, you should have no problems. But I'll still never forget the 87 Supra that came into our shop on a hook that looked like a toasted marshmallow. The lady had her engine steam cleaned, her spark plug wires were old, and it started to misfire. The cat converter filled up with with raw fuel and ignited. She was sitting at a stop light when her hand started to get warm...when she looked down, flames were coming through the console. Best part was, she tried to blame us because when we tried to sell her wires at her last service and she declined, she claimed that we didn't stress it to her enough to talk her into it.

asepgrad98 · January 23, 2005

who cares if you have dirt under the hood. Its a truck not VW Cabrio

KENWORTH-1 · January 23, 2005

Try this stuff that just came out. Works great!!!

mcreyaufmiller · January 24, 2005

The one thing that people do not think about is the fact that when you drive through a water puddle, or when it rains, the engine gets wet. But most people are afraid to wash their motors. Granted, te water from rain does not go all the way to the top of the engine, but it still gets wet. how do you think all of that junk gets there anyway? If your ignition system is in good shape, should be no proble, to wash, as stated above, check your wires.

RAYS B4U · January 24, 2005

What I've seen happen is water puddles on top of the engine and the when the engine runs for awhile and gets hot it turns to steam which can get up into the distributor cap and cause misfires. Drying off the top of the engine will help prevent it.

kdm101 · January 24, 2005

I'll second (and third, and fourth as well) the comments above about cleaning the engine. I've cleaned my engines for years using simple green and the hose (and sometimes the pressure washer on the low setting). I've never had a problem. This included my (now gone) 1960 vintage Mercedes.

The only thing to watch out for is to never do this on a hot engine. Some of those cleaners out there are flammable, and spraying them onto a hot manifold... well, you get the picture. If it's cooled down enough for you to touch without burning, it's safe to wash.

OUMike · January 24, 2005

Thanks for the replies everyone...these were my assumptions but I'd never done it before so I thought I'd run it past you guys. I wanna get something that'll restore the shine and what not...I think I wanna get some purple power.

Ben · January 25, 2005

First, there are a few sensors that don't do well when water gets into them.

Throttle position sensor (TPS), MAF, etc.

To avoid getting them into a high pressure stream, I've made up a special hose nozzel extender.

PVC pipe, schedule 80 preferred. About 18"-24" long, or whatever you wish.

One of those driveway nozzels for a garden hose. The ones with a hole about 1/4" dia.

Then get the various fittings for PVC pipe and garden hose threaded male and female.

Then thread this onto a pistal grip hose nozzel.

Now you can poke it deep into various spots that have built up road grim and grease. Blast it off with a high pressure stream of water.

I do this just before washing and keeps the engine bay very clean. I also have a spray bottle filled with simple green concentrate and a long handled paint brush. Spray anything that needs it, then use the paint brush to work it in. Then the above extension nozzel to finish it off.

ken01976 · January 25, 2005

I use the foam degreaser and then hose it off. I do the same on all my motorcycles. After i hose them off, I get out the leafblower and dry them off. Otherwise you'll get waterspots and sitting water.