Cleaning under the hood

[davrober]

cover the electrics with baggies and connectors with aluminum foil. Use a medium paint brush to brush off surface dirt and dust . Use rags and spray a citrus cleaner on the rag and wipe greese of surfaces . Use the toothbrush to cleans crevaces and tight areas. After this use a wet towel thatrs been really rung out and wipe everything down . Take a compressor or a shop vac that can blow out and blow any dust or debris out the compartment. I removed the engine cover and air intakes parts and cleaned them seperate. I would not spray water or steam and emgine in this day and age witht the electronic. It took 2 hours but the engine and compartment came out really nice .Looks like a different engine.

 

[johnnystar]

If you use something thats powerful enough to cut through grease you are taking the risk of a) disposing of grease on parts that may need it, for lubrication. b) causing damage to your aluminum, or plastic housings. You are more likely to do damage to the plastic tho' IE: Castrol Superclean or Simple Green will eat it, if left on for a longer period of time, or c) both the above.

The Magic Orange stuff is a little less punishing as its more natural ingredients, But regardless, any cleaner should be diluted, and only applied in small amounts. So spray down a component with the cleaner then rinse, proceed to the next peice and so on. Hand polish and clean by hand as much as possible.


Pressure washing or Steam cleaning can also cause damage, as there is too much pressure on the engine. Any chips in finish or chrome can by exponetially damaged.