Quick engine clean: my method also

[quantim0]

In case anyone was wondering how to degrease/dress an engine I decided to do a quick write up on how I do it. The test subject is my girlfriends 97 GTP. The car has never been detailed and had 10 years of junk built up on the engine. Soon the rest of the car will be detailed, either for a trade in or possibly used as my daily driver. Pictures will be taken/shown.

Process:
-Use any good degreaser, I prefer citrus. I used Duragloss #451 10:1
-Warm engine for about 2-3 minutes to get the crud warmed up to make removal easier
-Cover electric parts if you feel more comfortable doing that, I don't.
-Liberally spray degreaser all over engine
-Let stand for 5 mins or so
-Spray down engine bay with hose, lowering pressure when getting near electrical parts (this might be enough for a reasonably clean engine)
-Spray degreaser again
-Using a brush break up all the big chunks of stuff that didn't come off with the initial spray down
-Second spray down, engine should be clean now

Now that the engine is clean you want to make it look good.
-I use the cheap Armor-All tire foam ($3 a can)
-Spray entire engine down, especially all the black plastics
-Close hood, bask in the glory

Some people run the engine for about 20 mins to bake the dressing in, but I don't. After the detail I just wipe off the excess and go on my way.

Before:

After:

[scottgt]

looks great..man those things look wierd lol

[klumzypinoy]

I should bring my co worker out of the fear of putting water in the engine bay for engine detailing by showing your steps .

Great job!

[chaos]

that s/c looks funny.

[Nica]

Engine detailing is wicked, really shows the attention to detail if you ask me.

Thank sfor sharing....I'm not used to seeing the engine bay looking like that..you know me and my Toyotas

[Gnarboots11]

I love engine detailing. That has allways been one of my favorite things to do even before I found Autogeeks. Ever since I had my first car in highschool, 1990 Maxima, I would detail out the engine. I took autoshop my senior year in highschool and the teacher was amazed at how clean the engine was with a car with 200k miles. You really can keep a car in great shape for a long time if you stay on top of it. Obviously you feel the same way with that detail job on the engine. It looks great, nice work!

[supercharged]

Originally Posted by quantim0

In case anyone was wondering how to degrease/dress an engine I decided to do a quick write up on how I do it. The test subject is my girlfriends 97 GTP. The car has never been detailed and had 10 years of junk built up on the engine. Soon the rest of the car will be detailed, either for a trade in or possibly used as my daily driver. Pictures will be taken/shown.

Process:
-Use any good degreaser, I prefer citrus. I used Duragloss #451 10:1
-Warm engine for about 2-3 minutes to get the crud warmed up to make removal easier
-Cover electric parts if you feel more comfortable doing that, I don't.
-Liberally spray degreaser all over engine
-Let stand for 5 mins or so
-Spray down engine bay with hose, lowering pressure when getting near electrical parts (this might be enough for a reasonably clean engine)
-Spray degreaser again
-Using a brush break up all the big chunks of stuff that didn't come off with the initial spray down
-Second spray down, engine should be clean now

Now that the engine is clean you want to make it look good.
-I use the cheap Armor-All tire foam ($3 a can)
-Spray entire engine down, especially all the black plastics
-Close hood, bask in the glory

Some people run the engine for about 20 mins to bake the dressing in, but I don't. After the detail I just wipe off the excess and go on my way.

Before:

After:

I cover the altenator, and fans before starting. I feel safer this way. And after rinsing the engine from degreaser I wipe off the major spiils with a terry towel, then dress the engine with AA tire foam, let it bake for 10 minutes and done.

[2KLS1]

Originally Posted by klumzypinoy

I should bring my co worker out of the fear of putting water in the engine bay for engine detailing by showing your steps .

Great job!

I know how he feels. When my car was new I used to use a vac to clean up all the dust then wipe some parts down but after a few time I stoped doing it because I'm lazy. I still can't bring myself to spray water in there, just doesn't look safe.