What do you guys use when cleaning the engine compartment. Anything to look out for (ie, can you damage something) Kinda explain what you do.

 

I used (once) a CRC degreaser, avoided the coil packs, wrapped the intake and MAF in a plastic bag and used LOW PRESSURE water to rinse everything. I had NO problems.

 

I've used degreasers in the past and had good results. Last summer I did my truck and my wife's Toyota Matrix and I used Simple Green, on a cold dry engine, scrubbed in some areas (engine cover, radiator cover, etc), and rinsed with low pressure. I wrapped the alternator and MAF in plastic bags and took special care around the coils. I have a compressor so I was able to blow the engines dry with compressed air.

 

Sounds like it's rare that you clean the engine bay? I do it every couple of months. Simple green, low pressure rince, leaf blower to dry. I've never covered a thing and never had a problem. I was wondering if I was lucky. My NBS Z71 used to have mud hanging from the coil packs and alternator (along with everything else) after a good romping. I figured tap water couldn't do any more damage than that muck.

 

I'll admit that I don't clean my engine bay that often, but I've also seen alot of crazy stuff through the years due to water entering electrical circuits. Best case scenario is corrosion and an inoperative component...worst case scenario....well, a Supra got towed into our shop once that was charred black like a burnt hot dog. Long story short, the lady had her engine cleaned, the car started misfiring (original spark plug wires+water= ) and kept dumping raw fuel into the exhaust/cat converter, which caught on fire and burned the car to the ground.

 

hopefully not off topic, but the other day i gunked my old lady's motor for her, in a 99 escort zx-2... if you guys ever do this, be careful!!!!

i was doing a full tune-up for her, and started with gunking the motor...well, i took all the precautions, wrapped all electrical plug-ins, etc....and did the damn thang.

what i didnt know was that her old spark plug boots were dryrotted on the bottom....where they go through the valve cover and down to the plugs.....and they LEAKED ALL the water through that i sprayed the gunk off with.

i got to the plug change, pulled the boot, and said OH CHIT!! it was full of water under the boot, about 4-5" of water in the valve cover, between the cams....so i learned myself how to take half her freekin motor apart. lol i had to pull the CPS sensor, valve cover, air intake, throttle cables.... and dry that SOB out with paper towels.

got it all done, and it runs great now. thanks hunny, she said!! seems like everytime i set aside an hour or so for a small job, it turns into a huge ordeal....everytime!!

 

simple green works great !

 

Simple green here and also some orange based cleaners too. They cut the grease well.
I also have my plug wires lubed and filled with silicone dielectric grease and have never had an isue with water getting into the electronics.

 

+1

 

I used that black magic engine cleaner works pretty good....