Best way to clean engine?

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NC-Expy

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what are your methods?

I usually cover all the electrical stuff and then take some all purpose and a brush and start scrubbing and then wash with the hose
 

toms89

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I would keep water away from the cop's. It would be easy for water to fill up the spark plug hole and damage a cop or spark plug. Ask me how I know :).

I have washed my mustang engine many times with no issues. When I first got my Expy... I decided to wash the engine. After I started it up it appeared to run fine. Went for drive to dry it off and had bad misfire traced to plug hole full of water. My cops were all ok but killed spark plug. Replaced all my plugs and no issues since. I no longer wash the expy motor!:)

I always just sprayed motor down with simple green and rinsed with hose (My mustang). I don't have a build up of oil or grime to worry about.
 

designit

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I would say you're okay with the electrical stuff.. I pressure washed a couple of times over and under & no issues... (I may have blown out a bunch of dirt making my windshield leak more though HAHA)

spray with degreaser everywhere (on a cold motor) / brush the hood jamb areas & douche it...

Cops? I blasted them with the pressure washer pretty good on purpose (as a test) to see if the extra bit of grease I wiped around the under side of the boot seal where it came in contact with the block -- held up? Seemed to work okay. At least I didn't end up with plug holes full of water (I think)... Just an idea? Iduno... (of course I was changing 8 cops out too..) But not sure I would have been so liberal in putting the nozzle down in there if I wasn't already in and out of changing coils around (as toms says)
 

toms89

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Well the boot on the cops are supposed to seal the holes...... guess it depends on the age and condition of them. Mine obviously did not.. 80,000 + mi at the time. If you wash it and it has a misfire..... you will know where to look :)
 

panda24619

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i wouldnt wash it. just cover up the cops with plastic baggies or something as best you can and go to work. i washed it once before. never do again. no problems, but i know the cops dont like water. but i need to go under neath and clean all the grease out from the hoses and what not i have down there.
 

walnuts4x4

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lift it high enough so people cant see it....lol..... but before shows I use a wet towel to clean off most of it by hand then after it dries I use the tire foam cleaner and spray the plastics... cleans and shines and looks good at shows
 

hellrazer

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spray nine and a pressure washer worked awesome on my sho with mess of intake tubes on that...... have yet to get to cleaning up the expy
 

joezek

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I'm with the guys who had problems with water and COP's. Every car I've owned I've been able to degrease and hose down the engine with zero problems- until the expedition. I found out the hard way last week that water and COP's don't mix. It was badly misfiring on several cylinders. Each time I figured out which one was bad, I'd pull the COP and it was soaking wet. The seals aren't that great on them. One of them was actually cracked on the plastic coil housing. I had a spare Accel, and a spare cheap one.

From now on I'll have to be much more careful, at least until all the coils are new.
 
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