Engine cleaning

[LoganGSD]

The engine in my 740 looks generally filthy, its not baked in oil its just 22 years worth road dirt. I was wondering if there was an easy and inexpensive way of cleaning the engine and engine bay up without casuing more harm tban good. I ask because a garage jet washed the engine in my old skoda felicia estate and trashed it. Ever since I've been apprehensive about cleaning engine bays. It's a 2.0i.
Thanks.

[capt jack]

I've always believed that old cars - ie with no computers and gizmos - can be cleaned with a liberal application of Gunk, some elbow grease and a hose, provided that all electrics and any possible points of water ingress into the engine were covered up.

Newer engines can be treated the same but with a lot less water sloshed around.

It'd be messy, fiddly and you'll go through a ton of old rags though!

I think the pro valeting companies tend to use steam cleaners? Might be worth at least getting a price from some one who does it with this type of kit.

Cheers

Jack

[Prufrock]

My advice and what I do is to use a mix of oil and petrol (60% petrol), put it on with a brush and wipe off (obviously agitating the brush where muck build up is heavy); this way you can direct the cleaning away from any electrical components.

The dirt you might be referring to is the build up around the engine bay bodywork rather than the engine itself, i.e accumulations of dirt on the bulkhead and inner wings and the"chassis"rails etc - the petrol/oil mix is ideal for this.

It is also good for cleaning cast metal parts also.

Hope this helps.

Prufrock.

[LoganGSD]

I think your right Jack, its best i let a pro company break it. It's going in to the garage to have a new steering rack so ill ask it they can do if.
Cheers
Michael.

[Oilydad]

I've always believed that old cars - ie with no computers and gizmos - can be cleaned with a liberal application of Gunk, some elbow grease and a hose, provided that all electrics and any possible points of water ingress into the engine were covered up.

Agreed. That's the only way to do it properly.

Lots of TLC, elbowgrease and and also a good opportunity to find small faults before they become bigger ones too. Split hoses, frayed and damaged wiring etc.

Steam Cleaning or Jet wash, pressure jet washing is a no no for me. Water everywhere especially where you don't want it. Misfires and electrical issues for weeks afterwards. No thanks!

And maybe I'm over suspicious, but whenever I go to look at a car to buy, a newly steamed or jetwashed engine always says to me, if the engine is in good shape, without oil leaks, and well looked after....Why did they need to wash it?

[terrywilde07]

I used engine de-greaser, sprayed it all over the engine bay, I got through about 4 litres, let it soak in for a good 15 mins.. engine cold of course.. then used a cold water pressure washer to give it a good rinse.. blew off the water with an air line (advantage of working at my dads MOT/Service Garage).. it looked loads better at that point...

I then got a can of aerosol Tyre Shine and foamed up the entire engine bay... let it settle for 10 minutes and with a couple of clean rags, spent 10 minutes giving it a wipe over... it was as shiny as any show car I'd seen... I've got a couple of customers who took a look at it who show their custom motors and they were well impressed... all the hoses and plastics looked brand new... the whole engine bay stayed like that for a couple of weeks and it only takes 5 minutes to give it a wipe over to keep it that way...

I just avoided the Alternator by wrapping it in cling film.. never had any problems doing that way in 3 years & I do it twice a year..