What is the best way to clean the engine bay? I know that water isn't reccomended and I don't want to have waterspots all over the place.

What should I do?

-S

 

Plastic covers all get 303 Aerospace Protectant as do all of the hoses I can reach. Painted bits I polish once a year with P21S GEPC. 50k miles and it still looks pretty new under there.

 

Search the forum for a bunch of tips and techniques but a can of Engine Brite by Gunk and a hose will get you started real good.

Pressure washers are good for the really thick greasy stuff.

I've done this more than 40 and less than 100 times on at least five engines and only had to wait for one to dry out that I can remember...and I used a 2800 PSI pressure washer very liberally on that engine, a 1992 Audi I5 that had mold growing under the hood and in other places. Takes an hour or so to dry out unless you get out the hair dryer.

Using something like Vinylx on the hoses and plastic will make it shiny. The spotting I've seen is from left over dirt/grease deposits and not caused by the water.

On my car I use an air compressor to blow out the water out of the spark plug holes.

I usually wash the engine throughly before working on it and then shine it up with Vinylx after the job.

If it is really dusty-dirty I just hose it off if I feel like it.

<img src="http://www.gunk.com/cat_images/FEB1.JPG">

 

Professionals will spray the entire engine bay with a degreaser then use a pressure washer and wash it all away it works real nice and if you know where the electrical components are and dont soak them completly then your fine. Once thats done you spray some interior dressing (shine) and close the hood and your done the you have to detail the rest of the car!
I did it on my car 2001 TTQC and it worked amazing i also did it on my friends 2001 S4 came out great also email me if you need more help!
Mike

 

is they are lazy and want to automate as much of the detailing process as possible. John LZ7W is right, unless you're got a massive oil leak in your engine bay (and if you do, you've got more to worry about than detailing), everything you can see is made of plastic. And all it's got on it is some dust and road grime. Simple Green on a rag, then wipe dry with another rag, then use your fav vinyl treatment. Steam cleaning is leftover from a bygone era (like Gunk) and does more harm than good to all the electronics under the hood.

 

Im really goin to have to disagree on that because all the detailers i know including high line detailers ( ferrari bentley and lambo) do use this method it can be quick and lazy for most shops but good shops with good knowledgable detailers use this because it does get where the hand cant and it probably takes longer to use the pressure washer if you do it right. it looks great ( wont say that it looks better than your way since ive never used it )
Thanks,
Mike

 

I used to do it with my first coupla cars, back when you could actually see almost all the engine and it would get dirty, greasy and oily.

But that was then. I was noticing in the wife's GTI the other day that it is entirely covered by a plastic piece, can't see the motor at all. All I do to "detail" her engine is dust and spray.

 

there are pulleys and other exposed parts under the hood that don't like having all their lube stripped away by steam and degreser. besides, I'm just looking to do some spot cleaning.

ugg... the thought of all that grease on my driveway

 

wrap the MAF or coilpacks, air box etc?

 

Remember, I really wash when I work on things under the hood. Look at the picture below and notice the fine sandy looking dirt in the valve cover ridges across from the injector. This area is usually covered by the top plastic engine cover. I don't want that stuff dropping into any holes (filter lines, spark plug holes, etc) when I am working on the car.

So I typically take off the top cover for the coil packs (on 12V 2.8) they are all in the center-front and hose it all down. I want to blast all the crap out of the spark plug holes before I change plugs, etc.

Why not just use compressed air? It creates static electricity (spark hazard) and just blows the crap around and not necessarily out of the engine bay. Getting the stuff wet means it will rinse and go to the bottom (ground) in my eyes.

As far as the air intake, I only have and work on stock cars. The air intakes on these cars are designed for wet weather. They are solid tubes with low, front facing openings. I would need to inject water under some really high pressure to overcome the gravity and turns in the pipes to even get the air filter wet much less penetrate the air filter and get water into the intake manifold.

One place where I show restraint on my car is where the AC evaporator drain is. I don't want to overwhelm it and get water inside the cabin.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/12414/enginedirt.jpg">