Cleaning Engine Bay: Advice Required!

ardy89

ardy89

ardy89

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Joined
6 Dec 2005
Posts
871
Hey All,

Yesterday whilst helping my brother with his car (ancient peugeot 205) we were under the bonnet and i noticed how clean it was compared to mine (Punto mk2b 53 plate) and I showed him it, he advised me to spray wd-40 all round the engine bay to clean it, I didnt do this because i was unsure what damage it could do, surely spraying degreaser around the engine isnt ***??

What I'm looking for is some advice on cleaning the engine bay, what to use and how far i should go with it, are there any guides out there?

Cheers
 
I'm always somewhat wary when cleaning modern electronic engine bays. Spray cans of engine cleaner should do OK but use water sparingly. You don't want the pressure of water from a hose to accidentally force some important electrical bits apart.

WD-40 won't hurt though it'll probably attract wee dust particles.
 
1) Warm your engine up (warm engine dries faster I hard)
2) Cover the battery and any other electrical sensors with a plastic bag (I only covered my battery)
3) Spray the entire engine with some degreasant (I used Gunk Engine Degreaser)
4) Agitate dirty areas with a little paint brush
5) Give it 5-10 minutes to do its job
6) Get a low pressure hose and rinse down the engine
7) Get a towel and dry what you can
8) Spray some back to black on the plastics to give it some shine
9) Go for a drive along the motorway to help dry out the engine
 
Mackass said:
1) Warm your engine up (warm engine dries faster I hard)
2) Cover the battery and any other electrical sensors with a plastic bag (I only covered my battery)
3) Spray the entire engine with some degreasant (I used Gunk Engine Degreaser)
4) Agitate dirty areas with a little paint brush
5) Give it 5-10 minutes to do its job
6) Get a low pressure hose and rinse down the engine
7) Get a towel and dry what you can
8) Spray some back to black on the plastics to give it some shine
9) Go for a drive along the motorway to help dry out the engine
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot guys just what I was looking for, on another note, the exhauist manifold copming from the front of my engine is extremely rusty, is it meant to be like this?
 
ardy89 said:
Its not going to be cast iron is it are you winding me up :P
Click to expand...

Totally serious, it may not be on yours, as its newer but my Williams' is cast iron as are a great deal of cars.

Needs to be strong enough to deal with the heat and stuff.
 
Last edited:
Every car I've ever had had cast iron manifolds from the factory. That material is quite good with tolerating the temperature variation whilst maintaining a sufficient seal. My current ride has been treated to 1.75" primary tubular steel headers. :)
 
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