engine cleaning help

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Brad Bruggeman

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I need some advice on detailing a newer vehicle engine.I have a 14 jeep Grand Cherokee that I bought new and now has 16.000 mile on it and it starting to look a little nasty under the hood to suit me.I am used to keeping my cars as clean under the hood as as outside but am a little reluctant considering as complex as they are getting now days.I have always used gunk degreaser,preasure washer,metro blower followed with a wipe down with rag and simple green and then spray with a clear protectorant.I have always got good results.Is there any concerns doing this with the new vehicles?I have used this process in the recent past on a 01 gmc sierra,03 GMC envoy,99 Monte Carlo ,all with no problems although this is my first Jeep.Any help will be appreciated, thank you..
 
If you must clean it refrain from gunk to harsh on plastics .cover the coil packs if it has them and mass air sensor.simple green will work being a 14 it can't be that dirty to warrant a stronger product.Dress or coat it with a water based product,then close hood start up the jeep and let the dressing kind of gel up or absorb into plastics and hoses then wipe excess off.
 
I do about what you do.

Degreaser (3D, Meguiar's, LATA)
Dwell for about 5 min
Power wash off
Blow dry
Meguiar's Trim coating aerosol.
 
I spray megs degrees error diluted 5:1 and use a paint brush. Then I rinse off
 
I use a degreaser available locally at a janitorial store but my guess is Meg's Super Degreaser would work just as well.

The trick I use is to add about 8 ounces of Dawn dishwashing soap to a gallon of diluted degreaser. This makes the solution foam up when sprayed and it does a much better job at cleaning.

So my method is as follow:

Blow all the debris away using my trusty sidekick.

Protect sensitive areas such as the alternator, exposed connectors, etc.

Spray the underside of the hood and the entire engine and inside panels with the solution.

Agitate with a small paint brush (detailing brush would work even better)

Rinse off with hose. I don't use pressure washer on the engine in fear of forcing water were it should not go (electrical plugs, etc)

Then I spot clean anything still dirty with the same solution an the paint brush then rinse off again.

If anything is still dirty I go at it with a microfiber towel and degreaser. It's usually a good idea to clean all the visible hoses this way. Then rinse off.

Blow dry the engine compartment with my sidekick.

Use Meg's Hyper Dressing on all plastics, hoses and rubber inside the engine compartment.

Wipe clean with a microfiber towel.

The whole thing takes 45 mins to an hour on average unless the engine is covered in oil and grease.
 
GSKR said:
If you must clean it refrain from gunk to harsh on plastics .cover the coil packs if it has them and mass air sensor.simple green will work being a 14 it can't be that dirty to warrant a stronger product.Dress or coat it with a water based product,then close hood start up the jeep and let the dressing kind of gel up or absorb into plastics and hoses then wipe excess off.
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I think the engine cover protects most of the vital stuff,I plan to leave it on while using the water.I have never heard that about gunk.I have used it yearly on my pickup for the last 15 years and it still looks new under the hood?But I will keep an eye on the plastic now that I know this.Thank you for your help.
 
Brad Bruggeman said:
I think the engine cover protects most of the vital stuff,I plan to leave it on while using the water.I have never heard that about gunk.I have used it yearly on my pickup for the last 15 years and it still looks new under the hood?But I will keep an eye on the plastic now that I know this.Thank you for your help.
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There are a lot of opinions here on different ways to clean engine.not bashing any ideas here.First I would not run engine doing this because a code might come on,secondly dumping water with hose is not a good idea because of the volume.Never use a compressor to blow off water especially on connectors,your forcing water into wire connectors and coil packs .I would spray at a distance.washing engines is like playing with the devil,sooner or later it will catch up to you.
 
GSKR said:
There are a lot of opinions here on different ways to clean engine.not bashing any ideas here.First I would not run engine doing this because a code might come on,secondly dumping water with hose is not a good idea because of the volume.Never use a compressor to blow off water especially on connectors,your forcing water into wire connectors and coil packs .I would spray at a distance.washing engines is like playing with the devil,sooner or later it will catch up to you.
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I agree with you,I have had good luck in the past but am afraid it is going to bite me sooner or later.I have done it enough times with my pickup that I feel confident with it.But with a new or different vehicle I am a little hesitant until I know how it reacts.It could get expensive if something goes wrong. But boy do I love the look on someone's face when you open the hood on an older model to a clean shinny engine.PRICELESS.
 
Yes I agree ,just rinse it lightly I screwed up a Mercedes Benz s600 from engine washing as I took every precautionary measure a sensor got wet and the car broke down a week later.It ended up costing 3500 dollars to fix since then I don't do engines anymore it's not worth it.Distrubutor caps are long gone everything today is software to fix these cars and fly by wire on the majority of newer cars today.
 
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