How do I wash the engine bay?
 

Hello,
I want to wash the engine of my 09. What I used to do before in my old 2002, is to take it to car wash (trying to keep engine as cold as possible), rinse first with only water. then choose pressure soap then rinse with water again. All with no button pressure (passive car wash hose flow). Then immediately turn on engine and leave it idling for like 10 minutes with hood open in the sun while I dry what I can with a clean rag, focusing on battery, terminals, pockets, etc.. I also used to have my old VQ naked with no plastic cover. Honestly I did not care much and watered it liberally. I kept the engine very clean through my ownership of it. Never had a problem with it doing that.
Would that plan work on the 7th gen? I am still skeptical to touch it that much! you with or against?

I wash the engine on both of my vehicles several times a year in my driveway. This is my routine and has never caused problems on any vehicle I have owned. I use a garden hose with a regular pistol style sprayer. I start with a cold motor and hook up my hose to the water heater to get hot water.

1. Cover up the air intake opening (not really necessary on the Maxima) with a plastic bag. Remove the engine cover.
2. Mist engine bay with water
3. Spray entire engine bay with full strength Simple Green from a hand sprayer. Try to avoid painted areas.
4. Wash motor with hot water. I use the cone spray setting an keep it a few feet from any parts. I don't want to drive water into anyplace it is not supposed to be.
5. Use full power water stream to clean the radiator fins.
6. Reapply Simple Green in really dirty areas.
7. Wash down motor again with water.
8. Blow off motor with a leaf blower then take car out for a drive.
9. After engine cools, detail motor with a microfiber towel and any "quick detailer" type product. Use a towel you don't mind throwing away.

Wash the rest of the car like normal.

Open up hood, turn up radio in garage, sit on stool, grab a beer an enjoy the results of your work.

NO power washer presser! It will force water where is doesn't need to be!

All you need is an APC (all purpose cleaner), a brush to scrub, rags, and a garden hose.

The natural heat from he motor will dry everything, BUT the leaf blower will greatly assist in the drying. As a matter of fact thats how I dry my Max, touch it as little as possible!

Please use more descriptive thread titles in the future. "Wash?" is not an appropriate thread title. My first thought was you were asking questions about washing the car. Turns out, you have questions about washing/cleaning the engine bay.

I've revised your thread title to something more appropriate. When creating thread titles, always be descriptive so that you can help those who use the search function and have the same question as you. Thanks.

Thanks for the replies

One just has to be careful of electronic elements like fuse boxes for the most part. Keep in mind the engine bay gets soaked in a rainstorm so...not too much to worry about. I like to pre-soak with Castrol SuperClean diluted 4:1 and then gently rinse with a garden hose.