Engine detailing

[00Monte]

Hey everybody,

The thing I am most uncomfortable with in all I am learning in detailing is engine detailing.

1. I am terrified to spray water into someone else's engine compartment because I don't really know what to protect or cover up. I have a pretty good basic knowledge of engine parts - just not sure what water can damage.

2. I'm not sure what products to use to do the cleaning and protecting under there.

Right now I just open my hood after drying the exterior and dry the water that has gotten around the edges of the compartment and then wipe everything down with a damp rag.

I would like to start offering to do some basic detailing to make a little extra money on the weekends, but I am afraid to try to tackle this part of the job. Any suggestions or help in this area? Thanks in advance as I am taking my worn out rear end to bed. Will check up on this in the morning. I very much appreciate any info you can offer.

Don

[Lynx131]

Ok. This is not how the "book" is going to tell you to do it. But this is how i do it and ive never had a problem. Grab yourself a can or 2 of gunk engine brite. Take the car up to the local car wash. Spray the engine with the degreaser. CLose the hood, spray down the rest of the car. Open the hood, with the sprayer on wash. The key here is the high pressure and low pressure setting on the nossle. Spray the **** out of all the metal surfaces, and bottom of hood. Then with the sprayer on low hit all your wires real quick just to clean them up and your alternator. Avoid spraying wires, alternator or distributor if equipped for a long time or with high pressure. The key is to not nail your wires alternator or distributor with high pressure water. You want as little water as possible in these areas. These areas are not water proof, their are water resistant if you will. But other than that you will be perfectly fine if you avoid the things i listed, use just enough water to get the job done. Then turn the sprayer to rinse and repeat. Spraying as little water as possible on the 3 areas. After its rinced i like to finish off with a mist of spot free rinse. Which eliminates the drying process of the engine. So take the long way home, and when you get home let her cool down. Then you can get out the good old megs natural shine. This is how i do mine, looks excellent. Ill show you a pic of before i did the engine. This is the way i got the car.

[Lynx131]

Heres an after shot

[perry]

If you're afraid of doing the work, my suggestion would be not to do it. At the very least, you'd probably want to get some practice on your car, and maybe a buddy or family member's car. After you do a couple of em, you'll probably become more comfortable and can start doing them for customers.

You'll want to at least cover up the alternator and distributor or coilpack. Getting water in either of those can cause some problems. Don't spray water on a hot engine.. I like the engine to be just mildly warm, like from a drive around the block. Helps loosen up the grease a little bit and speeds up the evaporation of the water.

You can use your favorite all purpose cleaner to clean the engine. I've used a couple of em, no real favorite but I didn't like the way Simple Green stained my bare metal valve cover. Protect the hoses and plastics with your favorite dressing. CD-2 (sorry, haven't tried a Meguiar's product for this) makes an excellent engine dressing in a spray can - that's my personal favorite. I use a cleaner wax on all the painted parts on my car to make em look good.

Before and After of my Grandma's car from a couple weeks ago. Sprayed w/ the 'shower' setting on my hose, sprayed on an all purpose cleaner, let it sit for a minute, rinsed w/ the hose. Dressed it with the CD-2 product. Took me 10 minutes, so it's obviously not concours condition, but it came out pretty good, IMHO.

Little tip.. These, or something similar, make handy little covers for the alternator and coilpack. The elastic helps keep in place, and the plastic is decently thick so it doesn't rip too easily. Just make sure the engine isn't too hot so you don't melt em.

[Mike Phillips]

Hi Don,

Engine detailing can be hard and risky for the reasons you outlined in your post. Even I feel uncomfortable detailing modern car engines. Old cars, I'm pretty comfortable with because of their simplicity. But new cars, their complex engines, wiring, electrical circuitry, and replacement and repair costs should bring up a caution flag to anyone with some common sense.

As such, I don't do much engine detailing for customers. In fact, you might be better off to just concentrate on exterior and interior detailing work. That's what a majority of detailers do and that is what the majority of your customers will want.

Perhaps a couple of our seasoned detailers like DETLMAN and Superior Shine will chime in and give you their take on this topic.

Meguiar's does offer the right chemicals for cleaning and dressing engine compartments, and used correctly they are safe for both you and the vehicle. We teach a professional class here at Meguiar's that covers engine detailing and we also do hands on training with our chemicals on engine compartments.

Mike

[00Monte]

Thanks for the replies. I am glad to hear that my fear were with good reason.

Lynx131: I may try some of your ideas on my own car and see how it goes.

Perry: I like the little Saran Wrap cover idea.

Mike: As always, thanks for your input. I have wondered if engine detailing is vital in offering a "complete detail". It might be best to avoid it altogether on cars belonging to people I don't know. However, I do love the look of a really clean engine and compartment and I am sure others who care about their car at all do as well.

I have thought about getting a small pressure washer and using it on low to knock off the dust in there then wipe with an all purpose cleaner. What chemicals would or should I use for hoses and wires, etc... to get a clean look and protect them?

Thanks again for the replies.

Don

[jfelbab]

Some of my observations on engine cleaning over 45 years. As Mike stated, engines have become very complex and have computer chips controlling lots of vital functions today. If you get these wet they may short out and destroy some electronics. Replacement of these components could be very costly and your customer will be less than happy.

That said, I detail engine compartments if the customer asks for it and agrees to sign off on a disclaimer. I charge $50 extra for the light detail and $100 extra for the heavy detail.

First thing I'd do is turn off the pressure washer. It isn't needed and can only force water and dirt into places where you don't want it.

My detail process involves a light and a heavy detail depending on just how dirty the engine is. In both cases warm the engine for about 5 minutes before beginning.

The light detail is a hand detail with cleaners on old towels. I use cleaner sprayed on a towel and wiped over the dirty areas. I dry and then follow up with CD2 Engine Detailer.

The heavy detail is for greasy neglected engines. I cover all the electronic components with plastic bags and also plug the air intake. I spray cleaner liberally on all the dirty parts and let it set for about 5-10 minutes. Don't let it dry however. Be careful not to let the overspray get on the exterior paint. It will strip off the wax. I use a hose to rinse. Keep in mind the grease and grime that comes off will stain your client's driveway unless you cover it with a tarp. Dry the engine with an air compressor and old cotton towels. Pay particular attention to removing water setting in all the crevices. Remove the plastic bags and hand clean these areas. Let engine air dry for about 20 minutes and then spray CD2 Engine Detailer.

Wait another 10 minutes and start the engine and let it idle for 20 minutes to heat things up and set the CD2.

I prefer CD2 Engine Detailer as it is resin based, dries hard an is not oily. Products that leave an oily film, like NXT Tech Protectant, are not suitable for under the hood as they will attract dust and dirt and turn the engine dirty very quickly.

Note: I have been using Orange Blast for my cleaner as I ran out of APC+. APC+ has been reformulated and reintroduced as APC and I have not yet tried the new cleaner. The reviews on APC are good and I will most likely be using this in the future.

[00Monte]

Good info. Thanks Jfelbab.