How do I clean my engine?

[Makavelli]

Just got my MKIII and the engine is dusty as hell. It's all stock, so can I take a hose to it to wash off the dust before gettin in there with a rag? Also, are there any particular cleaning products that work well? Thanks!

 

[billspreston01]

you could go to a car wash place (the self washing ones) and the ones around here have an engine bay and rim cleaner type thing that just comes out of the pressure washing hose, but without as much pressure. Some people say the 7m engine doesn't do well with water, and people have sprayed their engines and have had to replace their plugs and wires (well...I heard of that once) I prefer an engine degreaser and some rags, I like to clean everything by hand, although you can't get your hands into some places so some goofy shaped cleaning tools to get down into hard to reach places might help...

anybody else on the idea of spraying it with a hose???

 

[turbo]

Hey man,

My secret to clean my engine bay is using the Toyota Engine Degreaser. I know it is a little more expensive but it is very good and foams up. Use newspaper to cover the electrical on the driver side and any where else. Make sure it is on a cold engine and let it dry outside for a couple of hours after.

Geoff

 

[spipedong]

Just last week I had to replace plugs and wires because water got in the plug holes while I was washing the car on a slope.

I sprayed a bunch of water on the windshield, parked facing downhill and it managed to run into the engine bay, flood the plug holes in the head and crack a plug.

This is the second time that a similar thing has happened. I would concur to not get the 7M wet if possible. I can only imagine what might happen if you were spraying the engine directly.

If you really think it's that dirty, a rag and some simple green should clean it right up.

 

[shaeff]

heh, DONT spray your motor with water. it'll run like crap. trust me others will chime in. just use engine degreaser and spend some time on it. everyone wants to get everything done so fast these days, and forget the methods that actually work, (elbow grease ) and spray their motors with water, then they run like poo.

edit: snipedong beat me to it. :icon_razz

-shaeff

 

[turbo]

Hey shaeff,

Water is just fine if you cover everything properly. It takes like 2 mins to put newspaper around important electrical then you can blast away for hours if you want. Then let it air dry for a while and it would never know the difference.

Geoff

 

[shaeff]

i'll stick with just degreaser and a rag. patience is a virtue. i never spray water in my engine bay. i'm sure others (such as yourself) have done it with no problems, but i'm strong headed sometimes, and spraying water in the engine bay is just a bad idea every way i look at it.

-shaeff

 

[turbo]

Fair enough but I will let you know if I fubar something in my engine bay because of water. I do like once a month for the past two years but you probably are right.


Geoff

 

[Makavelli]

I fully plan on cleaning my engine by hand, but right now it's covered in dusty dirt. I thought engine degreaser would turn the dirt gunky. What's the best way to remove the dusty dirt before goin in by hand, is what I really wanted to ask. :1zhelp:

 

[americanjebus]

get an air compressor and do it at a distance to get the dust, i did this when i bought the car and i had so much stuff in there and dust from it sitting outside i just took my dads little 5hp air compressor and sprayed all the little crevices, its not strong enough to lift your paint but its strong enough to lift some greese just do it outside where hte wind will blow it away.

if it doesnt come off with the air then yea do what everyone else says, get some simple green or brake parts cleaner and a roll of paper towels and just go at it. just dont get your brake parts cleaner on your paint cus it will lift it if you wipe it hard enough. then what i did was for added shine i took some armoral on the black plastic like fan shroud and other stuff. with like 3 cans of brake cleaner or simple green and a roll of paper towels you can get the whole engine bay clean and shiney in like........................................ 4 hours.

i spent 7 hours straight cleaning one time, once you start getting into it, it really doesnt seam like work, it gets enjoyable.

 

[siman]

Get some DAWN and a hose.....LOL

just let the car dry out afterwords for an hour or two....

if you can, blow dry the electricals.

Make sure you wash the engine bay on a nice warm/sunny day. :icon_razz

 

[supraman7mgte]

MAN,it seems like everyone has an opinion on this,
and here's mine.
1. Use a good engine degreaser on the block,but don't spray anything on or near the spark plug wires or holes. If you do,YOU WILL spend the next few hours getting the water out,and it requires some dis-assembly of the throttle linkage and intake just to get to them.
2. If your non-turbo,cover your distributor cap with a plastic bag you get from the grocery store.
3. Be sure that there are NO bare wires for you to arc out on.
4. Spray the hell out of the motor with the degreaser per instructions.
5.Get everything else with Simple Green
6. Let it set and then spay off!!!

 

[Mr.SelfDestruct]

I use atf on a rag to clean my engine and my tool chest, it works pretty good.

EDIT:not on paint, that turns real bad real quick.

 

[Makavelli]

I use atf on a rag to clean my engine and my tool chest, it works pretty good.

EDIT:not on paint, that turns real bad real quick.

Well, my paint's already shot to hell, and the engine ain't greasy just dusty. There's a ton of good advice here, thanks to all yall.

 

[doom26464]

i spent 7 hours straight cleaning one time, once you start getting into it, it really doesnt seam like work, it gets enjoyable.

lol welcome to my world. :love:

 

[americanjebus]

yea this thread made me want to get out and clean my car so i did, i started last night at 5 and went until dark like 9:30 washing and waxing, i didnt finish until this morning i did the meguires 3 step system and my god the paint reflects more than the windows.

my mom is pissed though cus i used our extra bath towels to dry the car (i hate linty towels)

 

[doom26464]

im on a 5 day cleaning program right now started since friday and should finish on tuesday and then car hits the shop wed and I can drive it again.

friday:vaccum and wipe interior down and in the doors with a cloth and water
sat: armour all the whole interior
sunday:wash and wax half the car
monday: wax the other half of the car
tuesday: clean tires and polish sawblades


as u can c today is finish waxing the other half of the car. Its been an intensi cleaning session but when I get my car back on the road again its goign to feel like a new car again.

 

[Supraholic]

One of the other forums, I heard of this one supra owner washed his engine with hose.. then dried.. water was left in the spark plug holes.. that made # 5 cylinder not to fire.. he drove it to school... without knowing one of plug not firing.. all that unburned gas ended up in the cat converter.. this caused cat converter to heat up and started glowing.. then.. the fire started.. needless to say, the he lost the whole car.. One wash job that went real bad...

 

[americanjebus]

sat: armour all the whole interior

like a new car again.

i hope your not reffering to armorall, it has alcohol in it which means if you stop useing armoral it will end up cracking your dash after long term use, the thing with armoral is it will do wonders for a while but if you dont continue to use armoral more and more often the dash will start to dry cus of its need for that alcohol refurbrishing, (we already had a thread on this in the last site before we got hacked)

use something like meguires cus its not alcohol based and you can stop using it without the problem of the dash drying.

i dont mean to say that armoral is gonna turn your dash into charcoal but its not AS good as some other non alcohol based ones.

 

[mkiiSupraMan18]

brake cleaner and ATF, proabbly 2 things that will never be used in my engine bay.... Just do what I do.... Throw some rags in the plug gulley (this is on a 6m, use some simple green, or something thats just sitting around that you feel comfortable using on the painted parts, wet the engine bay down, spray whatever on, scrub whatever you can, hose off....... I've been doing this since I got the car finished and have never had to replace plugs or wires... I have replaced them I just wasn't forced to (plugs weren't rusted or anything funky like that)...

Best bet, pull the motor and everything out of the engine bay, clean the bay itself, and just clean everything really good when ya put it back together... Then she'll be clean, why hasn't anyone else suggested this? But seriously, it'll only take ya a couple of days if you're good.

Ask anyone, it pretty much still looks like that after 30k miles.... only without the zip-tied fan shroud