Where have you guys degreased/cleaned your engine compartment? I'm trying not to stain my cement driveway. Any tips/tricks?

 

lol, I did it right in my drive way... then had to degrease and pressure wash my driveway...

the grass along the side of the driveway loved me for that one... I've never mowed such thick healthy green grass in my life!

 

car wash

 

i'm talking like a superbleeder clean.

 

lmao


well, phase one was a pressure washer

phase two involved a gallon of Formula 88 degreaser, a 50 pack of shop rags, a wheel cleaning brush, a garden hose, and LOTS of patients...

to turn this:







into this:





and it's STILL ragid around the edges...

 

Let the detail shop steam clean it for around $65.

See the results here:

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...xposed-135819/

 

I like Oil Eater. It's pretty mild (caustic chemical wise) compared to most of the engine degreasers sold in parts stores but it is one of the best products I've used.

I also vote car wash or anywhere with an oil trap on their drain.

 

mix dawn dish soap and purple power degreaser together in a spray bottle, spray all over engine bay and let it soak for like 10-15 minutes and pressure wash off has worked really well for me.

 

NICE!!!
I tried that engine dressing stuff once, too; agreed. it's sticky, and it doesn't take long until it starts collecting dirt.
I've found that WD-40 helps protect a bit without the sticky.


I just watched SuperB's vid to see exactly what Bend's talkin' about.
holy cripes man! beautiful work!
people think *I've* got a clean engine bay, but it doesn't come close to what you've got going on! haha
I do it mostly just so that I don't have to deal with grit and grime when I'm working on stuff, but damn man, that build you've got there... gorgeous.

but yeah, by car wash, I mean, the wand wash type, where you spray the degreaser and blast the heck out of it.

there's this one here that I've used over the years. they have a tire cleaner/engine degreaser (or so they call it) but what I do is drive it in, and with the engine running (tip from the techs at the Mazda dealership I used to work at; they used Spray 9 on anything that was crudded up before they'd work on stuff), I give the outside a rinse, then pop the hood and soak everything down. then I switch to the degreaser and hit everything in the bay with that. I steer clear of jetting the distributor full on, but nothing else has given me any problems. then I close the hood (not all the way) and wash the rest of the truck while I give the degreaser time to work. then I come back, shoot another run of degreaser, and then immediately switch to the high pressure rinse. it doesn't get sparkly clean like SuperB's, but it looks neater anyway, and makes it easy to work on.

sometimes I'll hit it with the high pressure soap to knock stuff loose before I go with the degreaser soak.
count on spending $5-$10.

the Dawn and Purple Power combo sounds pretty good. I use Purple Power. Used to use Castrol Superclean. anyway, I think you have to be careful either of those full strength on aluminum. I once got the Castrol on my hands not really knowing how strong it was. felt like I couldn't get it rinsed out! and then my skin fell off. down to the bone. true story. I'm typing this with one skeleton hand.

that Oil Eater product sounds good, too. I've never seen it before though. which parts stores do you see it at?
like you said, another reason I like the car wash is just for the pollution control. I'd expect they have to handle their rinse water differently than the average citizen?

 

Is there anything that can be damaged by a power washer when spraying down the engine and the bay? I just want to make sure before I attempt a project like that on my own.

 

I think in general, you just steer clear of the intake opening & the distributor. one thing to be careful of is making sure you're not busting the ports off any vacuum switches and such if you're sticking the wand down into places you can't really see.

I've been doing this for years now and only had one problem and it was on another vehicle. it was only because the injector seals were dried up, and it sucked in a little water and was hard to start and ran like poopy for a couple of days.

 

I'm talking more about protecting the cement. I will have the engine pulled so a car wash is out of the question. i guess just lay down a tarp with something underneath it so it goes into the grass. Superbleeder were you being sarcastic when you said that the grass was thick? I would think all of the salt and grime would rape that grass.

 

Wet down the cement prior to de-greasing. Mix some dishwashing liquid and water in a bucket and flood the cement under your engine bay with it.

Dry porous concrete will stain more readily, so keep it wet.