washing the engine

has anyone ever washed their own engine? if so is there anything i should be careful of doing?

Reply to
chewb40
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Yes, don't do it!

Seriously, why do you need to? Was there an oil spill or something?

If you must clean it (and I assume you mean jet wash), then leave the car running whilst you clean it.

Reply to
Gman

Maybe not a good idea to let it running.By spaying it, you cool certain parts. That way I cracked and inlet manifold on my Golf GTI.

Just clean whatever is dirty with some soapy water and a brush.

Ronald

Reply to
Ronald

Start out with an engine cleaner. Read the directions! Several parts need to be protected when you rinse. All hydraulic fluid caps, large electrical connectors and the transmission vent cap need to be covered with rags. Moving parts should not be directly sprayed. Nothing should be hit with high pressure.

Reply to
Kevin McMurtrie

Reply to
chewb40

If this is just for looks, forget it. It's too much trouble unless you have a show car. I'd only clean it if the dirt could cause damage - solvents/salts/acids in the dirt, abrasion between touching parts, blocking airflow, wicking oil from moving parts, etc. Usually wiping down a few spots with a damp rag does the trick and it only takes a minute.

Reply to
Kevin McMurtrie

The reason I suggest leaving it running is that if the car starts spluttering, you'll know to avoid that area (especially around the distributor cap/HT leads). I know from past experience to leave it running.

Most of the time if you're using any decent kind of jet wash the water will not be cold, but hot.

Or not at all :-)

Reply to
Gman

interesting Q and some answers....

from our Hampshire office window we watch a valet company and every day he just pops the lid on the cars and steams away under the bonnet,,,,,,,,,,,,,,mercs, jags, vans..........anything and the customers just drive them away. There aint NO prep work covering delicate parts.

our only concern is that all that shit, oil and muck must be going into the atmosphere and down the drains.

Reply to
Lez Pawl

Another data point: a friend of mine has a 1983 VW Vanagon out in the desert of Arizona, where packrats love to build nests. One time a few years ago (in this century) she left it parked under no supervision while she went on a marine biology research trip for something like 2 months. She came back and could not start the van because of the packrat nests, so she had the van towed to a place that did jet engine cleanings. She talked to the guy a while about the project, and he assured her he could easily blast out all these nests. When she persistently quizzed him about whether the blasting would damage anything, he had to admit that the one time he cleaned out a similar vehicle, it never started after that.

She didn't do the engine wash. The van is still running out in the desert of Arizona.

Reply to
KLS

Meguire's has a forum dedicated to engine compartment cleaning:

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?t=11887 I have used their techniques and products on VW, Ford, and Audi vehicles--never had any problems.

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