Engine Bay cleaning
 

this goes for any car but how exactly can you wash down an extremely filthy engine bay? can the electronics get wet? anything that should be covered up? should the car be running or off?

i'm asking this for a friend with a 94 grand am that has a nasty nasty engine bay

You're going to get conflicting answers for the "on or off" debate. I wash mine off.

Spray some Simple Green on, scrub with like a wheel/grille brush and rinse.

woohoo! i love Simple Green!

Yeah I have heard people say to do it with the car running but I don't. Everyone over on gagt.com says to cover the alternator. I don't do that either but I also don't start the car for about an hour and a half after I wash the engine bay so everything dries out. Other than that just do like ion c2 said.

I do it off, but I just get in there with a sponge and water.

I try to stay away from things like Simple Green becasue it could take the paint off any painted engine surface

^ if you have nowhere to go right away, you don't need to cover the alt, but if you do (as rusty has mentioned) you should cover the alt. Simple Green is the bomb. also, an old tooth brush if you wanna get down to the fine details...

true, but for stock engines (ie: no aftermarket paint) you'd have no problems

i've driven right after sprayin all over the alternator... heh

spray it down good with a good cleaner (like bleach white or simple green), let it soak for a min, and spray it off good with a hose. we do it all the time at work, engine running sometimes, not running others, and always drive the cars right away. its fine. we've never had any problem at all but i try to avoid direct hard stream on electrical connections.

I don't know how the simple green stuff works but I recommend Zep Formula 50. It works better than any other cleaner/degreaser I have ever used. Same goes for thier glass cleaner, Zep 40 Non Streaking Cleaner.

simple green diluted or pine-sol works well too

you only have to do that if u are gonna use it on paint. on an engine to degrease and stuff just leave it full strength

Zep 40 works good on so many things I used to work in a marine shop building river jet boats and that's what we would use on almost everything.

Yeah it works great. Its the only glass cleaner that is actually streak free.

I could make a big long post if it were a 04 or something, but its not.... Its a 94, so just clean it :)

should you cover the filter of a WAI as well as the alt. or is it ok as long as you give it time to dry out completely before starting afterwards? i want to clean mine as well, but scared about getting hydrolock from the filter getting soaked from the hose... (i know... stupid question... but i dont know enough about engine mods yet...im still learning from all of you!!!)

Cover the WAI filter!!!!!

I also use Gunk engine cleaner it works great and then i spray it down with the non spot rinse at a car wash to avoid water spots and then drive it home and let it dry and then inspect it and make sure all areas are good then use CD-2 detailer. This is how my engine bay still is ready show everyday even after a year of sitting in the garage or driving it around for 100+k miles.

Just ask anyone that went to ASS how clean my engine bay is.

^^ thanks!!! I figured as much, but again, not too smart with the total runnings of the engine and if it got wet, if you could just let it dry and be fine or what... thanks again!!!

Yes you want to cover the filter, I used a plastic bag. BUT just remember to take the bag off when your done. about 10 years ago I forgot one time and was wondering why my car kept cutting out. I kept on hitting gas to try to keep it started but kept on cutting out. I was like WTF, opened the hood and there it was, nice blue recyling bag over the now imploaded filter, it looked like an empty paper towel roll, needless to say I had to purchase a new one, lol. Learned my lesson to always check after washing the engine bay.