How Do You Clean Your Engine ?

[444DHQ]

I have a 07 GT and live on a dirt road,The other day I had to change my head lite's and noticed how much dirt and dust I have under the hood,Even around the Cops (Coil over Plugs) there are little twigs,feathers and grime.
I know better to not use a hose with water. Maybe a compressor and blow all the dust out ?
Any suggestions would be great. Thank you !!!!

 

[Noobz347]

I have a 07 GT and live on a dirt road,The other day I had to change my head lite's and noticed how much dirt and dust I have under the hood,Even around the Cops (Coil over Plugs) there are little twigs,feathers and grime.
I know better to not use a hose with water. Maybe a compressor and blow all the dust out ?
Any suggestions would be great. Thank you !!!!

Why not use water?

The thing that should NOT be done is using hose water while the engine is hot (even warm). If the engine is stone cold, spray that bad boy up with 2 can of "Gunk Engine Cleaner", let it sit for a while then hose it off. You can even use a pressure washer if you're careful. Try an keep the water out of the inlet tract and make sure all your electrical connectors are good.

Don't unplug anything that doesn't look like it's not already falling off or might. Any loose connections should be pushed in and it's a great time to have some dielectric grease on hand. If you find any questionable connectors during your inspection, it's good time to fill them with the grease since you're moving it anyway.

 

[444DHQ]

Why not use water?

The thing that should NOT be done is using hose water while the engine is hot (even warm). If the engine is stone cold, spray that bad boy up with 2 can of "Gunk Engine Cleaner", let it sit for a while then hose it off. You can even use a pressure washer if you're careful. Try an keep the water out of the inlet tract and make sure all your electrical connectors are good.

Don't unplug anything that doesn't look like it's not already falling off or might. Any loose connections should be pushed in and it's a great time to have some dielectric grease on hand. If you find any questionable connectors during your inspection, it's good time to fill them with the grease since you're moving it anyway.

I've heard that if you use water it will short out your cops and cause your engine to miss.Or not run at all until it dries out for a couple of days. Is this true ?

 

[Noobz347]

Stay away from em. lol

 

[horse sence]

I've heard that if you use water it will short out your cops and cause your engine to miss.Or not run at all until it dries out for a couple of days. Is this true ?

I believe that is what happened to the coils on my 2000 F150, the next day after Pressure washing i had a bad coil .A few days later and another coil went out .They did not clear out after driving and warming up ,i had to replace them . I have pressure washed it since with out any problems with coils But i don't blast them directly any more .

 

[earleys94gt]

Just take some rags and cover the COPS when you wash the engine off.

If you have access to one, a hand held steam cleaner is another option. All the benefits of water without the risk of "flooding" the electronics.

 

[joshw0000]

I've always been nervous about spraying my engine. I'll work up the courage one day.

 

[johnnyt03gt]

I've heard that if you use water it will short out your cops and cause your engine to miss.Or not run at all until it dries out for a couple of days. Is this true ?

It can.
On my 03 use the water hose to rinse off my engine. Unknowing to me water got into the spark plug wire walls. As soon as I started it up it sounded like crap and ran like crap. It was popping knocking stalling and sputtering. I was freaking out. But then I read somewhere that suggested I leave the hood open and let the water dry overnight. I did the next thing it ran perfect.

Since then I will never put a water hose on my engine again.

Now when I clean my engine bay on my coyote. "Once a month" I use Maguires interior cleaner. I love this stuff it's nongreasy. But still protects from dry rot and crack. And a clean rag. I get everything all the hoses absolutely everything and usually takes me an hour or so. But one finish it looks like it was brand-new all over again.

View attachment 113130

 

[welchy]

Run engine for a few minutes to get it slightly warm. If you have a cold air intake cover filter with plastic bag. Spray engine compartment with simple green. Close hood and let sit for 5-10 minutes. Carefully rinse engine compartment. Use air compressor to blow off extra water. Spray all plastic with tire shine. Let dry. Viola! Never had any problems. Just don't go crazy with the hose and you'll be fine.

 

[Tomh1962]

I've found the biggest issue with using the hose is that the spark plug hole fills up with water and that causes a lot of coil issues... I've also found that if you remove the bad coil and set it out in the sun, more times than not, it'll "fix" itself. kinda sux after replacing it, but hey, now ya have spares... The simple green and foamy engine bright methods are tried and true.. just use a compressor to clear out the water from the plug holes before you bust it off...

 

[SpartaPerformance]

I plastic bag my CAI stuff plastic bags over my coils, then I spray the hell out of it with simple green and run water from a hose over it, no spray just open hose end.