What do you cover up when you spray down your engine compartment? I'll be detailing mine later this week and keep reading conflicting suggestions in my searches.

 

i voted for a combination of the 3, but I don't cover the battery.

Almost everything under the hood is fairly weatherproof. I use a light to medium water spray. Anything more (high pressure machines/hoses) can be harmful to electrical connections and the like.

Just wet down, spray with cleaner, scrub the worst parts, rinse. Repeat if necessary. Then towel dry everything you can.

 

What do you use to cover those parts up?

 

I cover my air filter and take my battery completely out of the car. As for the alternator, I just don't concentrate a lot of water down that area.

I used cellophane plastic wrap to cover up those components.

 

After you wash the bay, should you start your car to help dry things faster and make sure that it all works?

 

I usually do a bunch of things by hand, but I do a final rinse with the hose on very low pressure. Using a high pressure washer can easily damage parts. I don't care how careful you are, something can still go wrong and end up being a costly repair.

 

I use bursts of water and try not to concentrate the stream of water on one spot. Garden hose and nozzle on jet spray setting is what I use.

 

The only thing that has happend to me was a little bogging, but thats just because I went a little crazy with the hose. but other than that you might have a little stem. But really no big deal like mentioned earlier, its is pretty waterproof.

 

the only things u need to cover are: battery, alt, and anything related with the ignition and starter systems especially the starter wires. Ive done this like 4 times to my mustang. Starts right up after every wash.

 

i work at a detailing shop for newer cars like a maxima we just spray the whole engine comparment down with degreaser and then use a high pressure hose to get everything off. make sure your car is running the whole time unless you have an intake you dont have to worry. Ive done tons of cars like this without any problems

 

And thats why I do everything myself. Do NOT use that as advice, good way to screw something up.

 

As long as you dont keep the stream of water on one area for a long period of time, that is a fine way to do it. Many detailers, not just cheap car wash detailers, do it this way with great results. Just dont spray directly onto the alternator or any electrical connections, and keep the water moving quickly over the bay.

I dont personally do it this way, but it works fine and many pro detailers use pressure washers if they have them

 

I just spray with degreaser on strut towers, rear firewall, near coolant bottle, use a small brush and dip in water as I scrub those parts. Then I use the brush to clean hard to reach areas that I can't spray into w/o spraying other unwanted parts. After that I use a very light spray and go around the firewall, srut towers, get most of it. Then I start the car and finish any small areas that might still have any degreaser to wash away. I take it for a quick ride going up and down a steep hill near my house. That way any water that has settled it areas, that would sit and rust, will wash away. Don't clean unless your engine is cold, you can do some damage if it is hot.

 

Agreed. You do NOT want to do it with the engine running. You run a severe risk of hydrolocking the engine.

I get the engine slightly warm (makes the grime come off easier) spray the engine down, shoot it with degreaser then rinse

 

i do it with my engine running all the time...doing it with the engine not running it bad. I have seen too many cars being washed with engine off then dirve for couple of blocks and just stop and would not start again.

 

I worked in recon. for two years for Manheim Auto Auction (largest used Car auction in the US), I bet i have cleaned more engines, Then there are honda civic on the street. I almost compleatly agree with chillout18, except i always have the cars turned off when cleaning. you must also know your vehicle, some cars are more likely to get "wet" then others. Wet is when the car will not run or is hesitent due to water being somwhere it shouldent be. Alot of GM cars have coil packs on the Back sides if the engines, which is where all the water runs to when you spray down the block. The most comen thing to make cars "wet" is water into coils. Maxima coils are 100% covered. There is little to no risk involved in useing a high presure hose on our engines. Even if you do have an intake, just avoid directly spraying water into the filter. the filter is cover in oil, so even if it gets wet water naturaly runs right off of it.
As for the alternator, unless your going to spray water directly into it, and then let it set for a month, it should be fine. the only worry you should have about the alternator is it the commutator geting rusted to the brushes. which would never happen unless the car was sitting for a LONG period of time. The Moral of the story is clean away

 

^What he said. Turn the car off. Spray everything
Leaving the car on is a nice way to hydrolock or crack the manifold

 

O you get much better results if you spray the degreaser on first, if you spray down the engine first it only dilutes the detergent, and will not get the engine as clean, secondly make sure that when you buy degreaser, you buy a detergent (like simple Green). There are a few companys that make degreaser, usually aerosol, that is made of mostly kerosene. This product tends to discolor alot of you metal parts. and lastly besure not get get the degreser on your paint because it can easily leave marks if you don't remove it fast enought.

 

That was kind of confusing but you meant Simple Green stains right? Citrus degreaser wont stain metal, but Simple Green will

 

I use a plastic walmart bag to cover the battery and since i have a cai my filter is outside the engine bay. I dont mind my alternater gettin wet but i use a pressure washer to use as little pooling of water i can. I then dry it by hand with towels and use CD2 engine detailer to finish it off. NOTE: I inspect everything before starting my car, and take care in making sure its safe. Good luck

 

Sorry for being confusing, i have not run into any problems with simple green as long as you don't let it sit to long. the Ones you have to be careful are ones make of mostly kerosene (like engine bright).

You know i don't understand way people are alway covering their bat? is it even posable to get a stream of water to cross both terminals and create a short? i don't know about anyone else, but i have yet to have a reason to tilt the hose an spray across both terminals . there for i have never covered a battery, and have never experanced any kind of problem.

 

I agree totally with pod97654..... I also have many many years experience in a very professional detail shop, was a manager for 4 years. We always left cars turned off. We coated most everything with degreaser and sprayed with a pressure washer. There is no need to worry about the battery. Just be careful with intakes, spark plug wires, distributors, etc. Over time you learn that some car makes and models are more prone to getting wet than others. In my entire engine cleaning experience there have been like 3 cars that have gotten ignition components wet, and they were all older model. Basically, pretty much anything new model is totally safe unless you are a moron and try to damage something.

 

I cover nothing but I am very careful where I spray and how hard.

 

i work for a detialing company we do all high end cars, one of the best detailer company on the east coast.... we cover nothing....we all purpose the whole engine bay and blast it....than put tire shine

 

I do it the easy way. Just don't clean the damn thing...In the past I have only covered the alternator and starter, and made sure not to wet the fuse box and battery...

 

Remind me not to get my car cleaned where you work!! Do you offer rebates on alternators/batteries/any eletrical, espeically with old engines?

 

I parked the car at the car wash place where I live for 2-3 hours and let it cool down. You don't want to crack anything when you blast cool water over HOT metal parts.

Also, I haven't modded the intake and didn't cover anything. Sprayed simple green and blasted the hell out of it. Its soo nice and clean now. Spraying over the battery will not cause anythign to blow up. One terminal of my battery has a cover any way, so nothing is going to get screwed up.

You should not have any bare wires around other than the battery terminal anyway. If you do then you should take care of those first by covering them up with electrical insulation tape (not just for the engine wash).

 

1. cover nothing
2. do not spray a hot engine with cold water
3. do not directly spray distributor or spark plug galleys
4. avoid open air filter elements

if you wet spark plugs, which takes alot of work on newer cars, just take the plug wires off and hit it with an air gun. if they are submerged it will cause a misfire, air drying can take upwards of an hour. no harm no foul.

 

just hose the thing off.

I have probably the cleanest engine bay in the DC area and also own the highest milage VQ35 of anyone. How do I do it? Whenever I wash my car at one of the hand-wash bays, I always spray down my engine bay with the tire cleaner, let is sit while I pre-soak the rest of the car, then rinse it off. If I go to meets, I'll hit the bay with armor-all and (yes, I actually do this) wax the painted parts. See sig:

 

I like to use Armor All on all the plastic parts. It keeps them from dicoloring, and when it gets dusty, all you have to do is wipe it down to look good again. Just do it every 3-6 months and they look good. If it's really dirty in there, grab a few brushes and some degreaser and go at it.

 

I have been very weary about putting any amount of water or cleaner in my engiine bay but after reading this I think I will try it out. Good info and good thread guys.

 

I cleaned it only once and did it by hand. Then it turned off and regulated around 500 RPM. But after a while it started doing well.

 

but that VQ just blew up

 

Ive worked at quite a few dealerships, and currently work at nissan. At first when they told me to clean the engine bay i was skeptical that spraying high pressure water into the engine bay with water is bad and electronics and water dont mix. But after doing so many ive learned that there are only a few things you need to cover up and a few rules that you should follow. Leaving the engine running, i do not, im sure you could get away with it but i would not take the chance. Also do not spray directly into: altenator, intake piping, electrical sensors and wiring, distributor, etc.. Basically when i do it i use an all -pupose cleaner that is diluted to be safe on all surfaces. I spray down the whole engine, cover up the altenator with a old chamois let the cleaner soak in and soften the dirt then i attack it with the pressure washer. i focus on the firewall and strut towers first then work my way in, i try not to spray something for more then 1 second constantly. also if the car has a distributor you will definately need to cover that very well, if any moisture gets into the cap the car will not run/start properly. I have cleaned cars this way numerous times, maybe 150-200 times and the worst thing that happened was on a civic and the fan belt sqweaked for a couple of seconds. I always start the car right after i do it just to verify nothing is wrong, and i usually do it on a semi-warm engine.

 

I just cover the alternator......and spray sparingly.

 

Has anyone ever fried their spark plugs? or wires?

 

you should DEFINITELY cover the alternator and air filter.

TRY to cover almost ANYTHING electrical that's exposed. don't let concentrated water hit anything. try to get compressed air to blow off left over water.