Will Engine Degreaser strip paint

[Selvos]

Hi I'm about to degrease my engine and was wondering if the degreaser will strip the painted surfaces in the engine bay.

Iknow i'm not supposed to get degreaser on the exterior paint, but what about the interior of the engine bay?

[jamesboyy]

If you leave it on there longer than a few minutes yes it will dull/mar the clear coat, if you want just cover the painted parts as best as you can

[PiPUK]

It depends upon the product but generally it will do no harm.

Are you referring to a water based product (i.e. can it be diluted with water) or a solvent based product (turns 'milky' if you add water)? The former are typically alkaline and often less aggressive than the 'non-acid' wheel cleaners out there. The latter are similar to the likes of tarminator and such products are used (by the hundreds of tonne) for tar removal on paintwork.

[Selvos]

Well I went ahead and did it. Was Still hesitant about really soaking it in degreaser.

Used Wurth engine cleaner and degreaser. Comes out in a stream of foam. Easy to get into lower areas of the engine. Covered everything with foil, sprayed degreaser, let it sit, then I hosed everything down. I dried it off the best I could with a towel and a blowing vacuum (oxymoron what?!). Finally I sprayed Sonus Trim and Motor Kote over it all.

The two problems I had were, first that I got some degreaser on the clear coated engine cover. It made a splotchy mess. I tried lifting it with Mother's QD, looks a little better, but it can always be repainted. Second I used some WD-40 on some exposed areas and got some on the serpentine belt. Hopefully I cleaned it all off.

Anyways...next time I really need a brush. Still looks good though. Although I did clean the upper part of the engine prior to this by hand a month or so ago.

Well...I hope this post isn't pointless.

[jamesboyy]

Sounds good, no this post is not pointless we all shared what we could learned from it and at the end of the day you have a clean engine bay you are proud of.