Best way to clean engine bay safely?

[PhilbertZ]

Been searching for close to an hour here and not finding it.

 

I'd like to clean up the bay a little and get the grime from the last 28 years off, and clean up the wires and hoses a little too.

 

I've heard that spraying the whole bay with WD40 and leaving it over night (hood closed) does wonders.

 

Does this work, and is it safe? Is there another recommended way of doing it?

 

Thanks!

[Challenger]

I believe there are degreasers that you are able to spray all over the engine and leave over night. Then wash off the next day. Id reccomend goign to your local auto parts store.

[BobbyZ]

I heard spraying armorall over the entire engine (plug and orifices first) and then pressure washing it off does a pretty good job.

[bschiltz]

Break cleaner if you're not afraid of loosing your finger prints or cancer in 20 years. There's also some de-greasers that work pretty well. I've used a couple of the orange based ones that seemed to do pretty well.

[Chaparral2f]

Simple Green then pressure wash will do pretty well.

[ihavearustedz]

i usually scrape off the heavy stuff then pressure wash. works reallly good. most import thing is cover your distributor, afm (air flow meter), and tps(throttle position sensor). a few weeks ago i screwed mine up pressure washing it.

[240hoke]

FOAMY engine bright and a brush. Does wonders in just a few minutes.

[Lazeum]

I've heard that a mix of wheel washer solution mixed my water (30% / 70%) works very well with a brush.

I do it to clean the tip of my exhaust and the bumper around on my DD, it works very well.

 

I've also heard you should clean your engine while it is running (no need for it to be hot)

[Jsal32]

What you have to be careful with when using any of these products is the fact that they might remove paint. I usually try to test out an area before i go at it.

 

things i've used before:

 

Simple Green

engine degreaser

tire/wheel cleaner @ the DIY carwash places

 

Both Simple Green and the tire/wheel cleaner took a little bit of color off if I left it on too long but I didn't care much since either the bay was really grimy(sp?) or I was going to repaint it anyway.

 

my 0.02 cents

 

-Jose

[ArnZ]

Oven cleaner on the block works good, Dollar store cheap stuff is good. Wear a mask and gloves

[PhilbertZ]

Thanks everyone! These are all great ideas - I'm sure I'll figure it out between then all (if I don't lose my skin/eyesite/engine bay paint in the process

 

Cheers!

[chunk]

I am in the process of cleaning up my engine bay for a total covering of POR15 and was wondering what you guys did for some of the undercoating that has made its way into the engine compartment. Towards the TC rod connection points on the frame rails there is a thick coating of what looks to be and undercoating of some kind. The coating is easy to dig into with my fingernail, but I cant figure out how to remove the stuff easily.