Cleaning my engine

[CorvallisBMW]

hmmm, I am going to have to try this on my car. I was always terrified of de-greasing or power washing the engine due to all of the elctronics, but from what I'm hearing it sounds safe enough.

[ACHTUNG]

This thread has made me decide to clean my bay. I didn't realize it was so easy.

[Jscotty]

Yeah, it is easy. I did it today and WOW! what a difference a clean engine makes. It looks almost like a new car underneath. Under the car is where I started. I drove it up on ramps and rolled underneath it on the creeper and started spraying. I didn't let the engine cool down because I was too impatient to wait. I sprayed it down, I let it sit, and then I rinsed it off. And then as someone else mentioned in this thread- when it rains or when you drive through deep water, all of that stuff gets wet anyway.

I was still slightly concerned about the top of the engine and the engine bay though because the ABS controller and the hoses and wiring harneses are wedged down in there together so tightly but I covered the distributor and battery and sprayed away. I was not as liberal on the top as I was on the bottom but I got the spot that has been bothering me for a while. There is an area under the hood where I had an oil leak from the valve cover and a whole bunch of oil, gunk and dirt has been building up there for a while. As soon as I sprayed it with the degreaser and let it sit and then hosed it off, it was not as nasty down there as it once was.

My only concern is getting the degreaser on those plastic covered wiring harnesses and the hoses and rubber boots around the rack and pinion.

[silversleeper]

The only thing I hate about most cleaners is that they dry out all the plastics and shit in the engine bay... making the motor look ashy.

On a side note, I just had a spectacular idea! Anyone ever try using the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser on the cosmoline in the engine bay? I scrubbed for hours getting rid of most of it, but I wonder now if the Magic Eraser can rid my engine bay of the rest of it with ease? I'll post up some pics when I get done!

[george graves]

WARNING.... "Castrol Super Clean" (the purple stuff) will eat into your valve cover if you leave it on long enough and or the motor how...

Simple green is a much better product for the engine bay IMHO...