Engine bay cleaning

Nikolaymk · Post by **Nikolaymk** » 27 Feb 2004, 02:55

I know that the general opinion is not to clean engine bays but I've just got a cleaning / sealant spray that does that job with very little water. It says to cover electrical components and wash the first spray coat with water. It then says: Spray a generous coat paying particular attention to electrical components, then leave to dry.
Pay attention avoiding them or pay attention spraying them heavily - this the bit that I could not understand. Any ideas?

DoubleChevron · Post by **DoubleChevron** » 27 Feb 2004, 04:23

Hi Guys,
I have only one thing to say... DON'T DO IT !!!! Never, ever hose under your bonnet. I never have in the last 15years of owning cars, until about 3weeks ago ... I've always thought hosing under the bonnet was dumb, but I did it anyway as I needed my CX to pass the equivelant of a local MOT. That was 3weeks ago and my CX hasn't run since.... Like I said, DON'T DO IT !!!
Oneday I will have time to try and diagnose why the old CX won't run ... eventually ...
seeya,
Shane L.

Nikolaymk · Post by **Nikolaymk** » 27 Feb 2004, 04:35

I didn't mean hose. When I said it needs to be washed off with water I meant using a very small amount - 1ltr. The engine bay is like new now - I just don't know whether to spray the electrical compnents.

alan s · Post by **alan s** » 27 Feb 2004, 07:09

I'm the opposite to Shane; I even use a high pressure sprayer under mine.
Just keep away from dirctly hitting the electrical connections seems to be the trick.
Other thing is that I usually do it on a sunny day & when I'm almost finished I start the engine & let it run until the fans cut in & then out & then wipe it off.
That way, the spinning components, fans & engine heat gets rid of all the moisture in the wrong places.
If it won't start, usually a gutfull of water down the plug holes seems to be the main culprit.
If it won't start after water's just been in the general area, feel grateful that something that was about to fail has done so in your back yard & not out in the middle of nowhere on a cold, dark, wet & windy night.[:D][:)]
Alan S

DoubleChevron · Post by **DoubleChevron** » 27 Feb 2004, 09:01

Yeah,
Alan is right, if something is sensitive to a little water, it's certainly worth finding. In the quick look I've had at the CX I've find an unending number of dirty connections and 3 wires that didn't have any connection at all (or were intermittant). No doubt these were causing some intermitant problems I was having with the car ... And I haven't found 'The' problem yet. It'll be just my luck it'll turn out to be something unrelated to the underbonnet drowning, so I haven't thought of looking for it yet [:(!]
Still make sure you cover the electoric housings/boxs with plastic, and don't forget the alternator. Certainly do it at home, and not the local 'car cleaing' place, as you will not be the first person to be left stranded at one of these places after drowning the cars electrics [:0]
seeya,
Shane L.

Nigel Darwell · Post by **Nigel Darwell** » 27 Feb 2004, 19:18

I've always cleaned my engine bay, pressure washer or steam cleaner with no adverse effects. Obviously some oiling may be neccesary to some moving parts throttle linkages etc. The plus point is you will readily spot any leakages on a clean engine !!

JamesQB · Post by **JamesQB** » 27 Feb 2004, 19:56

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Nikolaymk</i>

... a cleaning / sealant spray ... It says to cover electrical components and wash the first spray coat with water. It then says: Spray a generous coat paying particular attention to electrical components, then leave to dry. Pay attention avoiding them or pay attention spraying them heavily - this the bit that I could not understand. Any ideas?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Hi there, the spray is also a sealant, meaning it will put a coating over things to protect them from such things as moisture ingress. So it means pay particular attention to coating the electrical components, so that they'll be protected from moisture. It's probably like the silicone and plastic sprays you can buy for the ignition system to help protect them from the effects of water. Usually it'd say "paying particular attention to avoiding the electrical components" if it had an adverse effect on them. A sealant is more important on electrical parts since they react rather badly to liquids, so you want the sealant to waterproof them. So give the electrical components a good spraying with the cleaner/sealant.

Nikolaymk · Post by **Nikolaymk** » 27 Feb 2004, 22:56

Thanks for the advice.

Robin · Post by **Robin** » 28 Feb 2004, 00:35

I have found this topic an interesting one. I have always cleaned the engine bay with both high pressure water and steam cleaners. Would never even consider an engine bay being allowed to get dirty. However I do have one observation to make about the sealants that you can spray on. If you use these sprays on electrical equipment and there is some dirt left on the casings then it seals in this dirt and it can then cause short circuits under the sealant. This is particularly risky on the HT circuits.
My life is spent working in the marine environment on petrol and diesel engines - we were using the equivalent of WD 40 (water displacement fluid) thirty years ago and when we clean an engine space it is standard practice to just drown a warm engine with WD 40 following the clean up after wiping the obvious excess out of dizzies and off plugs and leads.
Clean engines are also a treat to work on when necessary and as someone who has to - I add a premium for dirty engines because of cleaning up after!
Just a thought.[:)]

reblack68 · Post by **reblack68** » 28 Feb 2004, 14:09

I spray something like Jizer on then wash it off with a watering can. Filthy engines are no fun at all to work on. Cleaning also helps you to trace oil leaks and do something about them. (What I usually do about them is clean them with Jizer occasionally)

CITMAN · Post by **CITMAN** » 28 Feb 2004, 17:28

I always like to clean the engine bay on my zx, but I keep water well away from the engine itself and concentrate on the chassis legs bulkhead and try and get all the salt of everything. Then I finish of by painting all the exposed bits of the cars body such as chassis legs and as much of the bulkhead with the clear waxoil. I dont aim for a spotless engine bay. but it can be done.

ZXturbo_Aura · Post by **ZXturbo_Aura** » 28 Feb 2004, 17:34

i use GUNK, its really good, brush it on, leave for a few minutes, then pour warm water over it, and if i can, jet wash the entire bay, comes up spotless!
Dan

goose · Post by **goose** » 28 Feb 2004, 22:17

ive never had a problem ive steam cleaned and preasure washed under the hood b4 and the electricals seenmed ok
ive done it on my mk 3 fiesta my citeeon zx 1.4 and zx 2.0l 16v
on the 16v tho it did effect the ht coils tho it missed for a bit but after a long run it was ok

myheadhurts · Post by **myheadhurts** » 28 Feb 2004, 23:54

I have to agree with most of the above.....BLAST IT OFF nobody likes a sh***y engine bay.I've used degreaser and then pressure washed it off on my diesel xantia , petrol mondeo and even the wifes xsara vts with no probs , as mentioned above just take the car for a steady run afterwards and let the engine heat dry it off.[8D]

Russell · Post by **Russell** » 29 Feb 2004, 04:38

I've used a local garage high pressure soapy jet wash for the my engine bays, no real precautions with the diesels, put the distributor in a plastic bag on the petrol models.
I leave the engine running so I don't go too wild near the belt drives and pulleys, and can move the water away if the engine starts spluttering.
Works for me...
Cheers
Russell [:)][:)]