Poll: When Selling/buying

[Mikeee]

Most of us have bought or sold not new vehicles.

Everybody usually cleans up the exterior and the interior but what about the engine bay?

 

As a buyer, I prefer the engine bay to be original dirty. Since I know about cars, I could possibly see a sign to maybe buy or see a sign to not buy.

 

As a seller it is kinda a double edged sword.

Sanitize it and the buyer may believe that you have washed away "problems".

Not sanitize it at the buyer thinks I am lazy or don't care.

[Darkanion]

As a buyer, I prefer the engine bay to be original dirty. Since I know about cars, I could possibly see a sign to maybe buy or see a sign to not buy.

I voted "null" because there wasn't a "ehhh - doesn't matter to me" option.

 

Personally, if it's too clean, I'm going to suspect that they're hiding something. So, leave it natural, so I can see what has been replaced recently, see leaks, etc.. If it has just been steam cleaned, from stem to stern, I'm going to be wondering what they're trying to hide.

[2000DV4.8]

I really don't care, a clean or dirty engine bay doesn't sway me in either direction. Like you said, clean could indicate problems, or it could just be someone who is very anal about having a clean vehicle. Spraying out the engine bay can also lead to some problems (I think on these trucks there was an issue with the knock sensor corroding?), so that's another thing to consider.

 

I guess dust and just normal grime is ok, but if there's any mud in there (like my truck ) I wouldn't buy it.

[Darkanion]

I guess dust and just normal grime is ok, but if there's any mud in there (like my truck ) I wouldn't buy it.

Yeah, if there is mud and dead animal parts, clean that sucker out!

[dietz4ibanez]

Yeah I was debating cleaning the black trucks engine bay in case I sold it... At the same time I didnt care that it was dirty when I bought it...

[2000DV4.8]

I guess dust and just normal grime is ok, but if there's any mud in there (like my truck ) I wouldn't buy it.

Yeah, if there is mud and dead animal parts, clean that sucker out!

 

 

No animal parts, but I think there's still some tufts of hair left from those kids that got in my way last halloween...

[Darkanion]

No animal parts, but I think there's still some tufts of hair left from those kids that got in my way last halloween...

Never EVER(!!) leave DNA evidence!

[geektoad]

As both a buyer and a seller, the engine bay should be on par with the rest of the vehicle. If it's a car that's obviously been babied overall (either by low miles, or by just being impeccable overall, the engine bay should reflect that. If it's a high mileage utility vehicle (high mileage, or low mileage work truck type thing), the engine bay should reflect that. Both a dirty engine bay on a super clean car (means the car was detailed just for sale) or a clean engine bay on a utility vehicle (means the engine bay was cleaned to hide something) would lead me to be suspect.

[Darkanion]

As both a buyer and a seller, the engine bay should be on par with the rest of the vehicle. If it's a car that's obviously been babied overall (either by low miles, or by just being impeccable overall, the engine bay should reflect that. If it's a high mileage utility vehicle (high mileage, or low mileage work truck type thing), the engine bay should reflect that. Both a dirty engine bay on a super clean car (means the car was detailed just for sale) or a clean engine bay on a utility vehicle (means the engine bay was cleaned to hide something) would lead me to be suspect.

Leave it to you to put so much thought into it!

[MarkPMB]

I keep mine clean anyways, but it almost bit me on the Dodge Ram 1500 I sold in March.

The truck had never given me any problems in 2 years. I sprayed off the engine the day I was going to show it.Then it just barely would run when I started it back up.

Then the check engine light came on, first time ever! I showed it to them and told them the story.

They both drove it and it was OK, just had the light on.

On my way home the light went off

Oddly enough they called the next day and bought the truck

[Zembonez]

I keep mine pretty clean anyway so it doesn't require much when I sell. I hate those dealer detail jobs where they powerwash the whole underhood area and spray some kind of shiny stuff all over everything. Piano gloss radiator hoses put me off.

[unit731]

I keep mine pretty clean anyway so it doesn't require much when I sell. I hate those dealer detail jobs where they powerwash the whole underhood area and spray some kind of shiny stuff all over everything. Piano gloss radiator hoses put me off.

 

 

Years ago, I remember 'steam cleaning' of engines. I understand this process.

 

What process do they use on modern cars and trucks to clean the engines? Without ruining all the electronic components on these modern engines. And what chemicals/cleaners do they use now to clean engine compartments?

[Zembonez]

I keep mine pretty clean anyway so it doesn't require much when I sell. I hate those dealer detail jobs where they powerwash the whole underhood area and spray some kind of shiny stuff all over everything. Piano gloss radiator hoses put me off.

 

 

Years ago, I remember 'steam cleaning' of engines. I understand this process.

 

What process do they use on modern cars and trucks to clean the engines? Without ruining all the electronic components on these modern engines. And what chemicals/cleaners do they use now to clean engine compartments?

 

Most of the stuff under the hood is tightly sealed beyond belief. A quick high pressure spray has never harmed anything on mine. I won't spray any chemicals on mine though.

[minibike132]

I like them clean. There isn't anything major you are going to cover up with a steam clean. I catch problems all the time on a steam cleaned engine compartment. I hate when we spray what looks like tire shine in there though. When that crap gets added it looks almost unreal so I'm really looking for problems then. As for what dammage can be caused in today's vehicles, not really any if all of the wiring is sealed as it should be. The only exception to this is anything with that optispark assembly (pre coil per cylinder firechicken) if you splashed water behind the water pump and it got in the vent of that optispark it was dead. Any time I do a major repair I soak everything down with Simple Green then pressure wash it. This is for two reasons, first I can see if anything new leaks with a short road test and second when a customer spends a grand or two if they open their hood and see a dirty engine compartment subconsiously the first thought is "doesn't look like I spent two thousand dollars". When I do a used car inspection the first thing I do is take about a 10 mile drive and put the vehicle through the paces and one of the reasons is if anything is going to leak it's going to show it's head, especially on a clean engine. So if you're going to buy one and it's clean take it for a little drive first. The last thing I want to say is for saftey sake. Alot of times people have seen me wash an engine compartment and asked if I was worried about cracking something that is hot (usually they ask about the exhaust manifold). I say that's why I don't do it hot, but the exhaust manifold isn't something I worry about. What I have seen happen a couple of times is someone washing an a\c condenser after the system is running and having it blow up. That condenser has super thin metal and gets very hot at the inlet. I've seen more than one person hit that thing with cold water after running the a/c for a while and getting 180 lbs of freon blown out. So if your going to clean your engine use something that breaks down oil before hand (I like Simple Green like I said) and hose it off cold.Edit: what the hell is wrong with this site, now I can't even get paragraph breaks without bbcode'ing them in. I'm not even coherent to myself without paragraph breaks and emoticons.

[Mikeee]

.... When I do a used car inspection the first thing I do is take about a 10 mile drive and put the vehicle through the paces and one of the reasons is if anything is going to leak it's going to show it's head, especially on a clean engine. So if you're going to buy one and it's clean take it for a little drive first....

That brings up a question.

The "test driver" holds the pedal to the floor for a maximum shift point spin from 1-2 and 2-3.

The engine coughs and dies.

Now it has a problem.

Did my car just become worthless because of the "hold test"?

Does the potential buyer have any responsibility?

An under-developed mind wants to know.