Cleaning under the hood

[KYRGYZ]

Just wondering if I can pressure wash here, seems like all the dust and other junk just gets in there and gets stuck
Is it safe to pressure wash it here or just do spot wash with a brush and dry it with a towel?

 

[GoldClass]

Just use a soft bristle brush with diluted APC or mild degreaser to loosen/dissolve the oil stain/dirts. You can also clean the whole engine as well. Afterwhich, light pressure spray down to wash down the chemical. Please be caution not to leave the cleaning chemical dries up. As soon as the oil stain/dirts is dissolved, just hose down straightaway. Do it when the engine is cold (or just a bit of warm is ok, not hot).

Basically it is the same process as ‘Engine Bay Cleaning’, there are a lot of turtorial in YouTube.

Have fun!

Edit: After the entire engine is cleaned, spray lightly some engine dressing, start the engine and bring up to operating temperature, and switch off. Don’t open the hood, let the heat cook the dressing for ~10mins and then open up the hood and VOILA! The whole engine bay will look like showroom shine!!

 

[RehabJP]

Yea I never recommend anyone "Pressure Wash" an engine. Get some GUNK degreaser and spray it down, scrub it and then take a garden hose with maybe moderate pressure but be careful with the ECU, power distribution (fuse) box and anything electrical and make sure to let everything dry oh and it never hurts to disconnect the battery too for exra caution..

When I see guys at those do it yourself car washes blasting their engine bay with high pressure water and steam it makes me cringe. No need and not the way to clean an engine.

 

[Rone811]

My Barbie electric toothbrush works best in those areas.

 

[PNWCIVICSPORTHB]

been pressure washing engines for years . spray down with 2-1 degreaser and let sit for a couple of minutes. then spray away. hate dirty engines

 

[Habanero]

 

[Donkeyhotay123]

I can't stand that guy. There's something about banal repetitious hypocrisy combined with outdated stereotyping that doesn't sit right with me.

Just because he's won an emmy in the 90's doesn't mean he still produces emmy winning content.

 

[Habanero]

I can't stand that guy. There's something about banal repetitious hypocrisy combined with outdated stereotyping that doesn't sit right with me.

Just because he's won an emmy doesn't mean he produces emmy winning content.

I understand what you are saying he likes to put fake clickbait titles up too. He does speak from experience tho, and his one point is true: Why would you bother cleaning a part of the car nobody sees? Do you clean the space under your house too? If your friends are judging you by that then you need new friends.

 

[Derek.]

I can't stand that guy. There's something about banal repetitious hypocrisy combined with outdated stereotyping that doesn't sit right with me.

Just because he's won an emmy in the 90's doesn't mean he still produces emmy winning content.

I feel the same way about this dude. His voice makes me want to uppercut my monitor.

 

[Donkeyhotay123]

Why would you bother cleaning a part of the car nobody sees? Do you clean the space under your house too? If your friends are judging you by that then you need new friends.

These are three separate things.

The house in most cases is not going anywhere.

In some states, houses don't even have basements and are built into foundations. No one is going under that home to dust it. But I promise you if you have a gap under your home, it's a good idea to inspect it for mold and deterioration. Busting out accumulated dry stuffs will help your home not go up in flames. Finding holes to patch will keep out animals.

There are practical reasons to keeping under the hood clean.

Having a routine visual inspection facilitates familiarity with the machine. It also helps you spot out potential problems. Dirt and grime does hinder cooling to some degree. You would definitely spot rodents or traces of rodents inside your car. 10th gen is kinda popular for rodent problems because of the wire insulation.

And lastly is judgey friends.

Which is more of a personal philosophical issue you need to resolve yourself. I don't care if your engine bay/car/garage is clean. But I do care if my engine bay/car/garage is clean. I like that kind of order and I enjoy that kind of busy work. I don't like it if a friend pushes it on me.

 

[vtecr]

There's no problem washing your engine so long as you're mindful. A lot of the issues you hear about online are hearsay/"my buddy did it once and he got cancer from the engine" etc.

So long as you're not getting right up on top of the engine/sockets/wiring etc and avoid the air intake and alternator you'll be fine.

I've power washed hundreds of engines over the years. If a car comes into the workshop that's been pi$$ing its oil all over the place then it goes to get cleaned before any work is done.

I suspect a lot of the suspicion about it is left-over from the old carb days maybe.

 

[vandalSI]

do you remove the metal undertray when cleaning?

 

[Jimmyjambo_fk8]

been pressure washing engines for years . spray down with 2-1 degreaser and let sit for a couple of minutes. then spray away. hate dirty engines

on older cars, sure. I wouldn't do this on anything newer. You must've been lucky. I know a few people to have electrical issues.

 

[ebatr24]

on older cars, sure. I wouldn't do this on anything newer. You must've been lucky. I know a few people to have electrical issues.

If you have a bit of common sense there is no reason you can't wash out your engine bay. I've used my pressure washer on my R without a problem. It's totally possible to clean it safely, even just removing the engine cover to wash it and wiping down the engine bay with a rag and degreaser is a good way to keep the engine bay clean on your Type R.

 

[boosted180sx]

i pressure wash all of my cars engine bay and they are all relatively new.
just be smart about it. Use a 40 degree nozzle and be enough distance away and its ok. Dont go around getting close to the area and blasting it with the pressure washer.

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