I took my 92 GXE to the mechanic to have a window regulator installed. I've noticed oil spots below where my car is parked. They're not huge, but they're not small either -- about the size of a coaster left over night.

Anyway, my mechanic said there was too much oil on the engine for them to figure out where the leak is and suggested I have the engine cleaned. Now, I'm not the neatest person when I put oil in the car, and its been leaking for a while, but I didn't think I'd need the engine cleaned just to have it checked.

Is this something that's safe to do myself with Gunk, or some other cleaner? Does anyone have some pointers on cleaning an engine? I really don't want to have to pay someone to do this.

thanks in advance,

John

 

Engine degreaser,and a water hose..

 

^or powerhose

 

I suggest going to a self-pay car was hand using a power washer there,
Use some gunk degreaser and spray it off. Works good for me when I did my maxima.

 

Is there any chance of screwing any of the wiring up? The mechanic said the oil on the underside of the engine was what was causing the diagnosis problem. I just want to make sure that if I spray some Gunk on the underside of the engine, and then hit it with the power rinse at the car wash, I won't screw anything up.

thanks for the quick replies!

John

 

There is always a small possiblility that you will fry electrical parts when you wash the engine/enginebay....This why i recommend washing it at home with degreaser and the water hose so you can let it dry before starting the car up again...

When i wash my engine bay,i follow up with a leaf blower to dry the electrical parts/harnesses/alternator/etc..[yes the neighbors will at you,but fukk them anyway.]

 

Leaf blower..man that is a good idea!!!

 

I am a little **** about a clean engine,so i clean it often...using a leaf blower gives me a little more piece of mind that i am not going to fry wet electrical parts when i fire it back up..

 

even though you would have fried them before

 

Huh?? Translation??

 

the most likely circuit to get affected by water is the alternator, if you got it wet to begin with it could have fried even with the car off.

 

So, other than watching out for the alternator, does anyone have any other tips?

thanks,

John

 

I just picked my car up from the mechanic. He said the PVC valve needed to be cleaned out, which he did. He said that could very well be the cause of all the oil. He told me to clean the engine and then keep my eye on it for oil leaks.

John

 

i'm not impressed with a mechanic who claims he can't figure out an oil leak because the engine is too dirty. you're paying him to do this... if you have to do half of his job, go somewhere else.

 

pick up 4-5 cans of brake cleaner...hit up the oily spots with it. the cleaner should dry pretty quickly and will clean up the mess.

the water hose and gunk cleaner is fine...but that might be overkill for what you're looking for at the moment...also with the age of the electronics it might not be safe to do if you don't know what to do. you just want it cleaned up so you can find the oil leaks.

 

actually i rather have someone tell me to clean up the engine so he can tell me EXACTLY what is leaking than someone that would just take a guess.

if it's a leak that seeps it takes a few days for the leak to show up once it's clean....but if it's all oily now and dirty how are you going to find where is the leak coming from?

how can you tell if your leak is a front oil seal or a oil pan gasket leaking (at the ends where the rubber pieces are)?

 

i think he means shorting out stuff with water droplets when you turn the car back on

 

I strongly reccomend not spraying the engine with water. The knock sensor is located where water will form a swimming pool that you will not be able to dry out, and that will make the terminal on the KS oxidize faster, which is the main reason for the KS failing.

 

blah.. just hose the sumbiatch down with degreaser and water. I've cleaned my engines with everything from q-tips and alcohol to degreaser and a power washer. I've never had any problems except when I sprayed the distributor directly with a power washer. A few minutes of rough idling and the water evaporated off and it never had a problem again.

thus, simply don't worry about it. as long as you don't submerge the alternator in water or directly hose the distributor while the engine is running, then you'll be just fine.

 

I always leave the motor running when I clean it. I use the cheap degrease from walmart. For the heavy deposits of dirt and grim, allow the degreaser to soak in. Don't spray the ignition coils and you should be fine as long as you keep the zeal under control. I've used both house water pressure and a pressure washer, depends upon how much motivation the grime needs. I'd skip the brake cleaner because it can too aggressive from some parts.

I always follow immediately with compressed air. I made a special wand with a ball valve and long copper pipe (flexible) so I don't have to depress the trigger for so long. In combination with the warming engine, the water pools dry up quickly.

---JET_MMPro

 

I did it like this; warm up car, degresser, then wash, then repeat, also, tighten up your cam seals w/ screwdriver if you have a leak, I fixed a bad leak like that.

 

I heard from a guy at the parts store yesterday that He is nervous about using much degreaser in cleaning an engine because it eats away at the gaskets, like the intake gasket. Any thoughts?

 

Blah.....Horsesh!t....Find another parts store guy to talk to...

 

I used some simple green ,gunk and other stuff. I just throw a dry rag over my distributer and leave the car on.I gotta do a couple more times my engine was never cleaned.

 

remember guys.. you don't want to be getting your hot exhaust wet. you wonder why these cars have exhaust stud problems? hosing down a hot exhaust and making the iron warp probably isn't helping issues any.

 

He He you said ****

 

Is it a good idea to remove the battery before washing?

 

only if it makes you feel better




Steam cleaners > * for cleaning engines, however most of us don't have the $2000+ or whatever they cost for one.



I'm in the same boat as Matt with the only exception being open air filters, I cover them