HateSwirls
New member
- Jun 24, 2013
- 3,632
- 0
Cars made today are safe to clean the entire engine bay.
I clean engines daily at my shop and never had a problem.
Cars made after 1996 are pretty much a go when cleaning engines, parts, connections are sealed well.
However cars made before 1996 could cause problems when they get wet.
I remember the issues we had back in the day, wetting the distributor, alternator was a no no, it caused the engine to misfire , or even damaging the alternator but not today's cars.
We do wrap the open intakes and K&N filters or similar just for precaution.
I don't wrap the alternator these days and still no problems.
For my personal cars I clean the engine bay after every oil change, love to maintain them.
Here's how I do it...
Make sure the engine is cool
Spray an APC on all parts under the hood but first make sure to wet the paint, more so the fenders.
Let the APC work for you a few minutes.
Take a brush/brushes and agitate as much as you can get to.
Spray APC again
Take a pressure washer to blow all the crap out, I choose to use a pressure washer because it doesn't put out as much water as garden hose does.
Start the engine then take a leaf blower to blow off as much water as possible.
Close the hood but keep the engine running, while it's running clean your wheels or just wait about 10-15 minutes.
Check to make sure there's no warning lights showing.
Turn engine off and dress.
We clean every engine that comes it for a detail wash, my customers love it.
Yesterday however a customer told me not to clean his engine, no problem being it's their car.
I clean engines daily at my shop and never had a problem.
Cars made after 1996 are pretty much a go when cleaning engines, parts, connections are sealed well.
However cars made before 1996 could cause problems when they get wet.
I remember the issues we had back in the day, wetting the distributor, alternator was a no no, it caused the engine to misfire , or even damaging the alternator but not today's cars.
We do wrap the open intakes and K&N filters or similar just for precaution.
I don't wrap the alternator these days and still no problems.
For my personal cars I clean the engine bay after every oil change, love to maintain them.
Here's how I do it...
Make sure the engine is cool
Spray an APC on all parts under the hood but first make sure to wet the paint, more so the fenders.
Let the APC work for you a few minutes.
Take a brush/brushes and agitate as much as you can get to.
Spray APC again
Take a pressure washer to blow all the crap out, I choose to use a pressure washer because it doesn't put out as much water as garden hose does.
Start the engine then take a leaf blower to blow off as much water as possible.
Close the hood but keep the engine running, while it's running clean your wheels or just wait about 10-15 minutes.
Check to make sure there's no warning lights showing.
Turn engine off and dress.
We clean every engine that comes it for a detail wash, my customers love it.
Yesterday however a customer told me not to clean his engine, no problem being it's their car.
