under hood cleaner

[macatak60]

i degreased my engine today and all of it's parts and simple green works like a charm.....my engine looks brand new at 70,000 miles.....i recommend it definitely.....i had my dad helping me and he sprayed it on and i washed it while he would just rinse it every minute or two....it works great

 

[szer0]

Can you (or Bob or somebody?) give me some more details on a good way to clean the engine and what parts, if any I need to cover?

 

[macatak60]

here ya go

i covered up the battery.....fuse box and the box where the spark plug wires are coming in......use simple green straight from the bottle....i first wet down the engine.....then sprayed simple green every where and started to wipe everything down.....however i had my dad continue to wet the engine every minute or so.....and i just went back over it a couple of times.....it looks awesome....there are some hard to get spots that i will go back over sometime this week w/ a toothbrush....i just used two terry towels......it works great

 

[rjstaaf]

A lot of people seem to like Simple Green. I usually avoid it. It is a very harsh cleaner and if you manage to leave it on your aluminum too long it will etch it. It is also a bit too harsh on all the rubber and plastic under your hood. In the short term I doubt it will do any harm but, long term it will dry things out.

Here is a good article from www.bettercarcare.com on how to detail your engine.

http://www.bettercarcare.com/articles.php?articleId=25

Let me know if you have any questions on it.

 

[DJsZincGT]

A lot of people seem to like Simple Green. I usually avoid it. It is a very harsh cleaner and if you manage to leave it on your aluminum too long it will etch it. It is also a bit too harsh on all the rubber and plastic under your hood. In the short term I doubt it will do any harm but, long term it will dry things out.

Here is a good article from www.bettercarcare.com on how to detail your engine.

http://www.bettercarcare.com/articles.php?articleId=25

Let me know if you have any questions on it.

This is true, and if you read the instructions, they tell you to dilute it, which is what I do. I've used it on my engines and tires on several different vehicles and I've had no problem with it. If I were you I would dilute it when using it under the hood. It is a harsh cleaner like rjstaaf said and in the long run you may see some damage to the plastics if you do not dilute it.

 

[jpctln]

I just cleaned mine out the other day with full strength Simple Green. What I did was spray half the bottle on everything and let it sit for a little while in the shade (or with hood closed), then tooth brushed the firewall and sides and such. Then I just rinsed everything down with Mr. Clean Autodry with an exhausted filter for a mist. I didn't cover anything up, but I tried to avoid getting too much water on the alternator, distributor (which was already covered), and injector area. My aggregate driveway was black after I pulled her in...had to powerhose that all off. I used tire foam on all the black hoses too. The best part is you can smell the cleaner through the A/C for a little while after you clean it. Maybe that's not supposed to happen, but Simple Green smells awesome.

This little guy has over 124,000 miles on her rlaugh: