Engine Bay Cleaning and Detailing

[MontiCristo]

I just maintain mine a couple times a year

man looks great, ive been looking for something to "spruce up" the engine bay / plastic component parts / hoses etc.. these are the two products you recommend?

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[DFB5.0]

man looks great, ive been looking for something to "spruce up" the engine bay / plastic component parts / hoses etc.. these are the two products you recommend?

Just a word of caution regarding Chemical Guys Bare Bones. I've used this product a couple of times, but being a solvent based dressing, it never truly dries. That means it will accumulate dust and dirt over time, in turn making it harder to clean the next time.

Another product that could be good for this application, P&S No Rub Dressing -

No Rub Aerosol Coating – P & S Detail Products

From the 18.25min mark in the below video -

 

[skinnyb]

I agree regarding using Solvent based dressings... Never truly dries and collects dust like mad... I much prefer water based.... I have yet to try the Meguiars, but my go to still is KCx Motorplast. It just works, a bit glossy but I like it..

 

[#1ford]

man looks great, ive been looking for something to "spruce up" the engine bay / plastic component parts / hoses etc.. these are the two products you recommend?

Also it does not leave a greasy mess!!! That would only leave it to attract dust and dirt!!!

 

[skinnyb]

SOOOO, I just wanted to revisit this today. I just did a detail for my friend who has a Whipple'd S650 Mustang, and on a modern engine I am very much a "use water" kind of guy. I did my normal procedure (wrapped the filters in plastic bags) where I foamed the engine down with brake buster in my foam canon neat, used a soft wheel brush to agitate as much as I could reach and gently rinsed off. I used my pressure washer but stood about 5-6 feet back and a 40 degree tip on my Active 2.0 was plenty of water flow to rinse.

That said, you would have thought I shot the Pope . The keyboard warriors on all the Facebook groups came out of the wood work telling me and him that his engine was gonna explode, it will never run again, etc.... LOL... Anyway. I explained to them all, I do this ALL THE TIME, you can't see the plastic bags from the angle of the pic, but they are there, when I got done the filters were perfectly dry. I always do the engine FIRST, then start on the wheels. While I am doing the wheels, I crank the car and let it run the whole time (like 20 minutes) to completely get engine up to temp and dry off any excess moisture... Anyway, just my $0.02 from today... And by the way, the after pic, due to me doing the engine first, the hood vent allowed soapy water to get in and wash quite a bit of the dressing off the intake hose and boxes... I did touch them up later, but didn't get a second pic...

 

[DFB5.0]

SOOOO, I just wanted to revisit this today. I just did a detail for my friend who has a Whipple'd S650 Mustang, and on a modern engine I am very much a "use water" kind of guy. I did my normal procedure (wrapped the filters in plastic bags) where I foamed the engine down with brake buster in my foam canon neat, used a soft wheel brush to agitate as much as I could reach and gently rinsed off. I used my pressure washer but stood about 5-6 feet back and a 40 degree tip on my Active 2.0 was plenty of water flow to rinse.

That said, you would have thought I shot the Pope . The keyboard warriors on all the Facebook groups came out of the wood work telling me and him that his engine was gonna explode, it will never run again, etc.... LOL... Anyway. I explained to them all, I do this ALL THE TIME, you can't see the plastic bags from the angle of the pic, but they are there, when I got done the filters were perfectly dry. I always do the engine FIRST, then start on the wheels. While I am doing the wheels, I crank the car and let it run the whole time (like 20 minutes) to completely get engine up to temp and dry off any excess moisture... Anyway, just my $0.02 from today... And by the way, the after pic, due to me doing the engine first, the hood vent allowed soapy water to get in and wash quite a bit of the dressing off the intake hose and boxes... I did touch them up later, but didn't get a second pic...

Yeah, I've had the same comments. All I say is "do you drive the car in the rain?", if yes, well then you are obliged to inform them that they will also risk blowing the engine up.

I will say though, its about knowing your car. Not all engines and engines bays are the same, some are better sealed up than others. For example, the plastic coil cover on Barra inline 6's are known to let water past and down into the spark plug sockets. I therefore don't feel comfortable pressure washing the engine bay on that vehicle, but if I did need to do it, I would take the appropriate precautions.

 

[skinnyb]

Yeah, I've had the same comments. All I say is "do you drive the car in the rain?", if yes, well then you are obliged to inform them that they will also risk blowing the engine up.

I will say though, its about knowing your car. Not all engines and engines bays are the same, some are better sealed up than others. For example, the plastic coil cover on Barra inline 6's are known to let water past and down into the spark plug sockets. I therefore don't feel comfortable pressure washing the engine bay on that vehicle, but if I did need to do it, I would take the appropriate precautions.

Exactly my point. Knowing the car you are cleaning makes a huge difference. On this car in particular, there is a GIANT hood vent that lets water into the engine bay when it rains from up top not to mention from below, or even when you go thru a car wash... DUH, its gonna get wet

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