My engine of my 95 GLE has gotten pretty dirty. How can I safely clean without messing anything up. Is it safe to hose it down. Will water hurt anything? Thanks in advance.

 

I'd stay away from using water if at all possible. Water has a way of finding its way into places it shouldn't be. Spray with WD-40, allow a few minutes for it to penetrate, and wipe with paper towels or throw-away rags. A paint brush will help reach where your fingers won't fit. An air compressor with blow gun is helpful but not necessary.

 

Make sure your engine is slightly warm, not hot, you should be able to touch your hand to the block and not feel hot. I use Simple Green but you can use whatever type of degreaser you want. I mainly use Simple Green because it works, and because every one of the chemical degreasers I've tried left me choking on vapors that can't be good for my lungs... Spray the block down really well and let sit a few minutes, then hose it off. If you really want to get clean, get a wire bruch and scrub. When you're done try to dry it with a towel as best you can.

As for water flow, I personally don't worry abou it. The maxima doesn't have a distributor, so the only thing you might want to be concerned with covering up is the intake the spark plugs. I don't worry about it though, I just don't use high pressure near the sensitive areas.

 

Take that baby to the car wash, the do it yourself one, they have 'foaming engine cleaner' on the selector. Foam that stuff all over the place and then blast it off with the 'rinse' pressure washer. Good as new, I do it every couple months.

 

Wash it all by hand. Better safe than sorry. I had a friend spray down his Max's motor once and all kinds of electrical gremlins appeared. Just take warm soapy water and or Simple Green and use some elbow grease. It will take a while, but you'll only have to do it once. After you've cleaned it, you can pretty much dust the engine on a regular basis. Running or spraying water/cleaners will get into your electrical connectors and wreak havoc. Would you rather risk having to spend $200 to fix a electrical problem because of spraying your engine or would you rather take 2 hours to clean it yourself by hand?

Dave

 

Hey,

I was wondering what the elbow grease was for. Also I saw that you mentioned simple green....I was wondering where I can get that? Maybe an autozone, pepboys, or Kragen autoparts store? Thanks.