Where did you get those yellow sleeves?

 

How are you guys rinsing the stuff off, hose or wipe?

 

When I do mine, I always hose it down. (just put a bag over the air open air filter if you have one) I worked at the toyota/honda/hyundai dealer for a year and thats the way we did all the engines. Spray on the chemical degreaser, spray off with a hose, compressed air to dry. (or towel, but be careful not to bump any terminals/connections loose. Don't be afraid to spray down the engine with water, I've done mine at least 20 times and its fine, and I've done literally 100's of all different type newer cars. Everything is pretty much water-proof on new cars. heh.

Tips:
-Don't spray cold water on your hot engine, it could crack the block.. BAD!
-In the degreaser stage, you might also want a toothbrush if you have heavier grime to clean off.

 

^^ Also try to avoid directly hosing down the alternator. I've heard of people's alternators going out cuz they rusted out from the inside. Just a thought. Everything else though is fair game except for what been mentioned before.

 

actually when I do mine I do it all by hand. I know it sounds tedious, but I am not that engine savvy and so I do not know exactly what to tape off so I just spray the degreaser on the rag and go to work. It works really well. I clean mine about once a month.

 

First I cover my intake filte and I degrease it, then pressure wash it. After that, I let it dry then I spray with tire dressing.

 

These are some good ideas... ALEXIS525 VERY NICE.... When i finish mine i will post some pics... My poor baby has been neglected!!

 

i use the degreaser from napa then pressure wash it. instead of normal dry, i hook up the sir gun and blast the water off. and use 1/4 son of a gun mixed with 3/4 water and spray it over everything, and then sparay WD-40 on the hoses. but the only thing to watch out for (as a warning this has happened to me) is the ignition failure sensor on the side of the head above the tranny. it blew the ECU out on me because it shorted out from having the son of a gun and water in it so it took 3 days to get a new one.

 

i dont know if it helps, but my brother in law just told me to take a steamer to it to get all the stuff off. and then polish. i havent done it yet, but i plan on doing it before the cold winter hits.

 

how come everyone needs degreaser? i just whipe the whole compartment down w/ a damp rag when i wash the car, but i never had any kind of grease buildup to take off