Cleaning the Engine

[russell336]

I want to clean the engine on my wife's mustang.
Is there anything special I need to do and can I use the car wash soap or do I need to use something made specifically for engines?
I have never attempted to clean an engine before and have read that you must protect certain parts of the engine from water and that you can't use regular car soap and I just wanted to try to verify this.
Does Meguiar's make anything for cleaning engines?

Thanks,

[rdarwa]

I heard citri gel works great for the engine. I am waiting on the PC deal before I place an order. The only bad thing is you have to order a case.

[Rick]

It depends if it's really bad or not. A couple times a year I just wash mine with regular car soap and a separate wash mit which is used just for dirty stuff. If it's bad then you might want to use an all surface safe degreaser. Then for drying go over it with a towel then vaccum or use compressed air to dry the rest of it down. There tends to be a lot of wierd small little crevices in modern enigne compartments. Then you may want to follow up with dressing all the belts and hoses with your pick of protectants.

[gb387]

I use Greased Lightning Orange Blast works well I have not tried anything in the Meguiars line, I would like to but.... I bought a life supply of Orange Blast a several months ago when it was on sale cheap and wallyworld. I am going to get some Engine Kote!

You know I have never protected anything in the engine compartment from water I just hose it down. Should I be covering the alternator or anything like that? I figure everything is water resistant to some extent since there is a chance of it getting wet from daily driving.

[Rick]

Standard disclaimers naturally apply here, but I've never had a problem with using water in an engine compartment. They seal up everything because they could get wet durring daily use. The only things I know of that you need to be cautious of is if it's a carbuerated engine cover the carb or sometimes you'll find the ECU in the engine compartment, you'll just want to be careful about not getting it too wet.

[Bri9801]

APC+ 4:1

[99BlackStangMan]

cover ur alternator and some electrical stuff with a plastic bag to be on the safe side. Also when ur spraying it off dont get to much water in there.

dont leave it running and dont spray directly on electronics and youll be fine

[Paulmart]

I let my Mustang set out overnight to make sure the engine is cold. I spray the engine compartment with full strength Simple Green and let it set for about 15 minutes. Then I just hose the engine off and start it to speed the drying. Its a good idea to wash the car after cleaning the engine.

[justayoungmc]

simple green works as per your suggestion but many would not reccomend using it as it has shown to be damaging to aluminum parts.

the extent of the damage may make it applicable or not but the chance of damage occuring exists.

[probegt]

I usually use simple green. I first start the engine for a minute or so and turn it off. Then I cover some of the electrical parts (distributor, coil, alternator, distribution box, etc. with foil. Foil seems to stay on better than bags and molds to the things. I also cover the intake air inlet. I spray with simple green and let it set in for about five minutes and then work the product . Ten srpay off and remove the foil and start the engine and let the heat and fan speen the drying. Wipe off the rest of the dirty areas and make sure you didnt miss anything. dress the engine.
sorry for being so long

[electricgreen]

Anyone else ever use Foamy Engine Brite? I've used it on a few motors that were pretty greasy with good results......

[gb387]

Something I have found that works well... Woolite Foam Carpet Cleaner works well on an engine and wheel wells. I ended up with several cans of it and needed a use up somewhere.

[cablebfg]

meguiars makes this stuff called EXTRA, and its safe and they advertise it to use it on the engines, watch the 28 minute video of Detailing Car clinic, its pretty usefull to show u what u need for certain things, and its 28 minutes long so u really get a good idea about what u need for certain issues....

[rusty bumper]

Originally posted by cablebfg
meguiars makes this stuff called EXTRA

Not anymore...I heard they were discontinuing it...As a matter of fact, I bought 3 bottles at Big Lots a few months ago...So Meguiars must have sold the remaining stock to them.

[gb387]

Rusty Bumper... Do they cary any other Meguiars stuff at Big lots?