cleaning engine and engine compartment?

[Pikey]

Generally, mine does not need to be blasted. I am just rinsing dust off. The tire foam even does a good job cleaning crap off of the fire wall. Plus it seems to protect everything from moisture. When I sold my 02 everyone that looked at it commented on how clean the engine bay was. Multiple people commented on the brake booster and asked if it was new because there was no rust on it at all and all the other 02's they looked at the booster was covered in rust.

[87silver]

We just bought a '99 Ford F150 reg cab short bed that was left by my father in law who passed away (yes, we still have our 2 Chevy pickups as well). The engine bay was pretty sorry looking. I covered any of the sizeable harness terminations and electronic modules with plastic grocery bags that you get from the market. Sprayed it down with a hose, but used a wide angle spray instead of a direct stream to coat. Then I sprayed Simple Green on the entire compartment including the inside of the hood (had no hood insulator). After soaking, a string mop with a 2' handle (cut off) was lightly swished around and between all components, then I rinsed again with a wide angle spray. Started the engine and warmed it up to dry. Impressive results. Should have taken pics, but it truly worked for me.

[Tskerik]

I'm not sure on the best way to clean under the hood, as my truck has not been cleaned under the hood since I purchased. I did however have a conversation with a mechanic that told me if I do ever watch under the hood to avoid spraying in the area under the intake. The reason for this is apparently there are some sensors that are in the the block and once water enters these holes they cannot escape.

This guy told me that what would happen is once the water enters this area and once the engine gets hot the water boils, pops up, hits the top of the bottom of the intake and falls back into the hole, eventually causing the sensor in there to rot away.

Don't quote me on this but just a little peice of information that this guy shared with me. Not sure if its the truth or not!

[newcheylover]

I do the same thing! I just don't pull the trigger. a quick rinse avoiding the alternator and as many other electrical components as I can. Then I spray it down with tire foam. (I learned this working at a detail shop) I use the cheap stuff for it. (no touch, or what ever is on sale) It leaves all the all the rubber hoses and black plastic looking nice and shiny for about 6 months or so, depending on if I drive alot of dirt roads.

my ignition coils are over my valve covers, will the tire foam hurt any of that or is it ok to spray over it all?

[Pikey]

I spray it all with the foam and have not had any issues.

[newcheylover]

I spray it all with the foam and have not had any issues.

do you rinse the foam off or let it dry. also i had an oil pan gasket go out on another vehicle i worked on. needless to say everything below it got covered with oil. does it work on oil and grease?

[clinton_hedrick]

The car wash in my town has an engine cleaning spray, that stuff works wonders on everything. Do you guys wait until your engine is completely cool before spraying it down?

[Pikey]

do you rinse the foam off or let it dry. also i had an oil pan gasket go out on another vehicle i worked on. needless to say everything below it got covered with oil. does it work on oil and grease?

I have never used it on oil, so I don't know. I just let it dry itself. I have used gunk engine bright to get oil and grease off.

[newcheylover]

Ok ive heard of that stuff before but never used it.

[Pikey]

I just make sure that the engine bright does not sit on any rubber for any amount of time.