How do you clean your engine?

[Emile]

Hey,

What product do you all use to clean your engine, or for your clients' engines? I have a bottle of Purple Power; do I just spray it all over the engine and then rinse the whole engine bay off? I am hesitant to spray liberally as there are battery cables and other things exposed; neither of my vehicles have those fancy plastic engine covers once I open the hood.

Is there anything that AutoGeek sells which will do the job nicely and easily? I drive off-road all the time for work so plenty of dust and dirt gets into the engine bay.


Thanks,
Emile

[Chris Thomas]

Search Result (http://www.autogeek.net/searchresult.html?catalog=autogeek&query=degreaser&x=0&y=0)

Dilute a degreaser to 3:1 (usually), warm up the engine, if older car cover the dist cap, pressure wash off the area, liberally soak with degreaser, wait 1 minute, aggitate with brushes, rinse, repeat if necessary.

BTW: you're not getting many responses to your posts because you can find the answers to your questions by searching. Also see the videos that AG has on the store site for more how tos

[sal329]

It depends on the engine and how dirty it is. When I clean my personal cars engines they never get too bad. So I will warm the engine, spray with ONR and then a use an APC on some areas (diluted pretty mild) and then use brushes, towels and sponges, spray again with ONR and then dry. Start the car let the engine warm up some more. shut the engine off, use either CD-2 or Hyper Dressing, let it sit for just a couple of minutes then start the engine again. After it has set I will go back and wipe down any excess.

[nitro78]

i do pretty much the same as sal. i use dp exterior cleanse-all making sure not to get battery cables and the alternator. i use a variety of brushes then use a hose with just the bare end to rinse. (power washing is a little rough for engines imo) dry then dress with cd2 and wipe off excess.

[67Customs]

I use a dilution of Meguiar's Super Degreaser.

The dirtier the engine, the less dilution I use.

[Blade]

Where do you guys get your CD2 these days?

[GeorgiaHybrid]

Autozone carries CD2 (at least in the southeast)

[jesselyons2002]

I actually made two DIY for two different website. Maybe you can reference off some of them

DIY Engine detail (Thanks by DC5MEL) - Club RSX Message Board (http://forums.clubrsx.com/showthread.php?t=591248)
DIY Engine detail (Sorry 56k) - G35Driver (http://g35driver.com/forums/repairing-detailing-diy/229262-diy-engine-detail-sorry-56k.html)

[Jimmie]

Purple Power 1:1 will work good. Yeah, just spray the whole engine bay (I use caution around altenator, belts, and electrical connections) and then rinse with a minimal amount of H2O. Dry with a leaf blower or canned air to get puddling. Dress. Wipe.

[jlb85]

I have never had a problem with using a pressure washer. Don't do full power on anything painted, like valve covers. Also watch out for stickers and ID tags on engine parts. Other than that, use Megs degreaser, or if you really want to be safe, use Megs APC at 4:1 with a brush. You want to make sure it is really clean before dressing, though, or it will show and look like you dumped dressing over a dirty engine...