I think I'm going to do this to my car sometime soon. I don't like the idea of using a hose though. Which product would you guys recommend that I could just spray and wipe off with a paper towel? Every time I open my hood, it just looks so freaken filthy.
How to clean under the hood
- Thread starter guitarsolo23
- Start date
ejreams
Well-Known Member
I just cleaned my engine bay yesterday.
I would recommend cleaning things by hand most of the time.
However, sometimes you just want to do a quick immaculate cleaning.
Get some degreaser and spray it in the engine bay, don't spray a lot. Also, don't hit hoses intentionally, if they're dirty spray a little on there if you like just make sure you spray it all off within 2-3 minutes which you should do regardless of whether you sprayed any hoses.
To spray it off, if you don't have a power washer which is what I use its great cause you can really get everything quickly without getting massive pools of water because its spraying rapidly instead of just streaming. Obviously though do NOT get to close with the power washer or you'll probably run into disaster (to close being like 1/2" away from sensitive areas). But not everyone has a power hose (i'd recommend going to a place that lets you use it for like $2 lol) but you can use a garden hose too just make sure you have a spray nosel on it cause again you don't want to stream huge pools of water in there what a mess.
Then dry stuff by hand, don't let it just sit in there and rust for christ sake I've seen so many people do that. Why would you want water pooled up inside there?... lol its not like it just rained with the hood down thats different.
and your engine bay should be well... clean?
and if you're saying what the heck degreasers should I use?
#1 Do not use any high acidity degreasers You WILL KILL HOSES! and PAINT!@
#2 I have some pretty light degreaser at work that is used to get bugs off of bumpers with ease, works wonders, I use that. If you don't have something like that I would reccomend dish soap, but be nice to your car I'd try diluting it first just put some in a spray bottle put water in there and spray away. if it doesn't work very well put more in the bottle and try again.
for drying, just dry it with a rag.
Now its still probably going to look not quite new because plastic gets old and looks like old tires do, what I recommend is using a obviously non flamable tire dressing. You don't want anything in there thats going to emit self igniting fumes. lol
I have stuff that works great at work, I'll update this with the name and some pictures.
Hell maybe I'll just make a little thread.
I would recommend cleaning things by hand most of the time.
However, sometimes you just want to do a quick immaculate cleaning.
Get some degreaser and spray it in the engine bay, don't spray a lot. Also, don't hit hoses intentionally, if they're dirty spray a little on there if you like just make sure you spray it all off within 2-3 minutes which you should do regardless of whether you sprayed any hoses.
To spray it off, if you don't have a power washer which is what I use its great cause you can really get everything quickly without getting massive pools of water because its spraying rapidly instead of just streaming. Obviously though do NOT get to close with the power washer or you'll probably run into disaster (to close being like 1/2" away from sensitive areas). But not everyone has a power hose (i'd recommend going to a place that lets you use it for like $2 lol) but you can use a garden hose too just make sure you have a spray nosel on it cause again you don't want to stream huge pools of water in there what a mess.
Then dry stuff by hand, don't let it just sit in there and rust for christ sake I've seen so many people do that. Why would you want water pooled up inside there?... lol its not like it just rained with the hood down thats different.
and your engine bay should be well... clean?
and if you're saying what the heck degreasers should I use?
#1 Do not use any high acidity degreasers You WILL KILL HOSES! and PAINT!@
#2 I have some pretty light degreaser at work that is used to get bugs off of bumpers with ease, works wonders, I use that. If you don't have something like that I would reccomend dish soap, but be nice to your car I'd try diluting it first just put some in a spray bottle put water in there and spray away. if it doesn't work very well put more in the bottle and try again.
for drying, just dry it with a rag.
Now its still probably going to look not quite new because plastic gets old and looks like old tires do, what I recommend is using a obviously non flamable tire dressing. You don't want anything in there thats going to emit self igniting fumes. lol
I have stuff that works great at work, I'll update this with the name and some pictures.
Hell maybe I'll just make a little thread.
Last edited:
When you clean by hand what do sort of cleaner do you use? Is it just one of those spray on, let it soak for awhile, then wipe off?
thanks for the DIY. I've been wanting to do this for a couple years now and finally had the balls to do it. one of the positives for me is that i have an electric blower. right after i rinse the bay, i turned it on and dried it in just a couple minutes. decreases the chances of electrical getting wetter.
SykVSyx
Well-Known Member
I'll probably do mine sometime soon. I'll probably use a hose at those DIY car washes and just hose it off there cause my engine compartment is straight up dirty as hell. I wouldn't want to dirty my drive way with all that filth.
i didnt. i wasnt sure if i wanted to use flammable stuff inside the engine bay. is that what everyone else uses?
i did everything at the end of my driveway since it's got a slant.
SykVSyx
Well-Known Member
Yes, but you would give it time to dry so it wouldn't be dripping all over the place. It shouldn't be so heavily applied that it's dripping all over the place.
