Hey, All of you have picts of your Engine and its soooo clean...theres no dust or dirt or anything! How do u all keep it soo clean?? I have a CAI so is there any risk with just hosing off the engine with water??? Thanks!

Yes, i know im stupid.... .....but id rather be safe than sorry....

 

Not stupid at all man. I'd like to know what others do too. Personally, I took mine to the quarter carwash, popped the hood, left the enging running and sprayed the motor cleaner on it, let it sit and rinsed it off. Seemed to work just fine. However, make sure not to directly spray anything electronic, and be wary of your ignition system. After that, I took it home and used a product called Black magic on all the hoses and stuff (it's really for tires, but anything rubber will work). Again, just be reeaaally careful!!
If this was a bad idea, or totally incorrect, somebody, let us know. Thanks in advance--

 

i thought if you put water on the engine when it is hot you would crack the head

i had a tarus and it was over heating so i put water on the engine to cool it down, needless to say it cracked both heads 1000 dollars later it was fixed

 

I never clean it. It just stays clean!

EDIT: Well, I do wipe it off every once in a while with a wet rag.

 

Same here. I just wipe everything with a rag everytime I wash my car. It keeps everything looking clean.

 

i clean it up real good with simple green 2 times a year. and yes i use a hose on it too. just stay away from electrical stuff. and it stays nice and clean.

 

also dont spray de-greaser(cleaner) directly on belts, it causes them to squeal..

 

I clean mine 2 ways...
1: myself - I do use decreaser on the rubber hoses and lower part of the engine, the I wash the painted parts with car wash soap as if i were washing the car. Then I hose it all off. I cover the hole by the pipe with sheet metal... it blocks about 85% of the water, but I have hads no problems ith the filter. I then lube my belts, spray tire shine on my hoses, I then dry the painted pieces with my shamy and wax'em!!!


2: my detailer - he simply steam cleans it using his pressure washer... He is awesome!!!

 

I bought my car used and the engine was dirty, probably due to the owner never even looking under the hood.
Well, I detailed my engine bay one day and a year later it's still great! Just a light spray with water or when changing the oil I'll run a rag absentmindedly to get some dust off. Other than that you just need to do it once.

Preferably when the engine is cold and say you've washed your car, pop the hood and take a plastic bag and put it over the distributor and tuck it away so that it stays.
Get a bottle of Simple Green (Wal-mart) and sray it on all problem areas. Plastic is OK but you may want to just spray the metal stuff. Let it sit for a minute or two and then lightly spray it off with a light mist of water. You'll notice all the gunk coming off the engine. If you need to hit the tough really dirty spots again then go ahead.
After that you can actually take a rag and soapy water and wash the painted areas just like you do the outside of the car. (you can wax em too but I'm not that dedicated!) Be sure to clean off the underside of the hood too. Take off the plastic bag and wipe down all sensitive electronic areas.
After this you can either let the engine air dry or wipe it down with a clean rag to make sure it's all clean. If you want to get spots with a toothbrush that works well too.
Now the best part about doing this is the last step mentioned above.
I used STP vinyl treatment (like Armor-All) and spray it directly on a rag (not the engine, you'll get overspray) and coat ALL the hoses, and even the plastic fuse covers etc will shine up beautifully. They'll look like new. One guy even asked me if I replaced all the hoses on my '97 because they looked so good. People are not used to seeing the engine bays look so good so the impact is worth it. Plus your mechanics will love you, you'll be able to spot any leaks quickly and you'll feel even better about your ride.
You'll only need to do this once and then a little spot cleaning every few months will be fine.
Oh yeah, don't use anything on the belts, especially armor-all stuff. They'll slip and squeal. You can sometimes find "belt-dressing" in the auto shops but I'm still looking for some around me. (Nobody uses it too much)

Good Luck!

 

That's the only part of my car that I'll get a friend of mine to detail for me every once in a while. To keep it looking clean, he told me to just take a few rags, spray some degreaser or cleaner and wipe by hand anyplace that is dirty. Simple and easy.

 

One thing I would add to what NOMAD said is be sure and cover your altinator with a plastic bag.
I use Simple Green for the realy dirty stuff and maybe a little elboe grease.

 

sooooo sparying water on the engine with a CAI???? = BAD?!?!

 

The best way I've found...
Go buy 2 cans of degreaser and a can of engine detailer at kragen, go to the coin op carwash, degrease the s$% out of it, use the power rinse mode to rinse it, and then idle it dry and coat it with detailer and it looks like it should be ona car lot. I get a lot of comments about how clean my engine always is, lol.

Brian

 

Yeah, that's what the dealers do. They get it all clean and shiny and when the average joe looks at it he automatically thinks it's a great engine because if the outside's clean the inside must be good too! Idiots...
They just wanted to wash away the oil that was leaking out of the block...

 

WHats the best crap to use to get chrome clean????? Is there any chrome cleaner thats got a rust removal additive too??????