How do you wash your Engine bay?

Hey all,

I just took my newbie 5th gen out into the back country for a couple of days.
I guess you can say I went thru a few mud "puddles" while out there.
Now my entire engine bay is splattered with mud. I would like to clean it out.

I watched a few videos and saw people soaping and power washing the ENTIRE engine bay!
Some covered the batteries and fuse box...but everything else looked to be fair game.

BUT...on the flip side, I read a maybe saw a video in the past that say to cover the alternator and not to power wash or even hose it down. (spray bottle cleaning solution and a rag was their option)

First...Is it that critical to keep the alternator dry during a water hosing? It's kinda tough to wrap or cover it since its way deep down there in the engine bay. Also is hosing down an engine frowned upon?

Any thoughts to this AND..... how do you wash your engine bay?

thanks

 

Hose water-skipping electrical panels.
Simple Green on oily parts. Rinse with hose.

 

Spray bottle and rag here. I don't believe in throwing water in the engine bay and much less pressure washing. Too many things could go wrong IMO.

 

I use a terry towel with water and maybe a little soap. Rinse the towel out in the bucket regularly and it goes pretty quick. No worries of screwing something up.

 

I use a spray bottle with a weak solution of dish soap and water. Agitate with a detail brush, spray again, wipe with a rag.

 

Hose and simple green. Rinse well. For your mud make sure to hose your radiator well.

 

GUNK engine cleaner/degreaser. It's been around for decades and does a good job, as long as used as directed.

 

Garden hose, turned down so I get a weak, low-volume spray pattern. No soap. Avoid directing the spray at the spark plug coils, or any electric. Some electric gets wet but I try to avoid it. I mostly get around the engine, not much on the engine itself. I would definately not use a pressure washer under the hood. Trying to get this perfectly clean is foolish in my experience.

 

I believe in a gentle wash as oppose to a hardcore high pressure wash. Scrub around with a wet rag and just gently rinse off non electrical components. Eventually things will get muddy and dusty under there again so I don't see a point in an all out 100% wash to risk having electrical issues down the road.

 

steam clean it. No hose/pressure washer.

 

When I was in high school I worked at a used car dealership. We would spray down the engine bay with degreaser then hose it down. Occasionally cars wouldn’t start up afterwards. I’ve never done it to my own vehicle.

 

I wash my engine bay by hand. I use a bucket of tears from all the people who installed raptor lights and then regretted that decision - it acts as a strong solvent. I use the hot air that I spew out of my mouth to dry them.

 

Valid. I use the tears from the " the biggest tire i can get without rubbing" people then a polish with"why did my mpgs go down?" Really shines it up good without harsh chemicals.

 

This is a really solid solution. APC with a steamer is quick and less messy.

If you don't have a steamer, water house on low and wrap any sensors like maf, spark plugs, etc in a towel

 

I don't, mine is not a showpiece

 

I bring my vehicles to a superb detailer in my community from time to time. He makes the engine bay and the entire vehicle look better than new for $200. Each of our vehicles gets this treatment every couple of years. In between I keep things looking right with a soft cloth and soapy water.

 

I did mine for the first time in 125k.

I used the damp rag with a bucket o water method.

It works perfectly fine.

 

I would never deep clean my engine bay, at most i clean the plastic covers, hoses cables and stuff with a rag with maybe some silicone/protectant once a year.

Its not a show car and IMO some of the grease and grit is good for it. That said i do wool wax any potential rust prone under areas.

 

Simple Green and water. In my case deionized and pressurized. Don’t be scared. Your engine bay is not sealed from exterior water.

 

Electrical connectors are going to be a weak link long term. The less they see water the better.

 

works flawlessly. I can control where the steam hits. I dont even use APC, just steam BUT i do it 1-2x a month. I guess if its bad i may use some APC but the steam really does a nice job. I got the "industrial" one from HF. Works great.

 

Back in the 1960s there wasnt such a thing as BOSCH connectors with rubber isolators and o-rings ect.
My 89-95 trucks were bad about not cranking after an under hood wash down
My 2008 gets pressure washed about once a year
My 2012 has been pressure washed a few times
My 2023 got pressure washed a month or two ago
I dont have any issues pressure washing under the hood of current vehicles, the connectors are pretty bulletproof. I pressure wash under the hood and take a leaf blower and blow all the water away.
Watching the cheap auto detail shops and used car lots pressure washing the whole interior, including door panels has made me immune to being scared of everything. RUN IT.

 

I used to have a 2006 WRX that had corrosion inside of one of the main wiring harness connectors. It had to get cut out and the 16 or so wires all spliced together. I don’t know what the previous owner did to it to cause that to happen.

 

On the way back from every wheeling trip, I stop by a coin-op car wash. For the engine bay, I use the high pressure rinse setting but without pulling the trigger, so water comes out at lower pressure. Nothing needs to be covered. The alternator can take a good rinse with no issues. In fact, if the alternator got mud in it, it's better to rinse it out. The battery should be washed thoroughly to flush away any sulfuric acid that may have spilled out from off-roading.

 

Most likely the acidic degreasers like purple power clean. Notice how they take the finish off bolts and make them rust? It does the same with any zinc plated terminal as well such as electrical connectors.

Toyota uses the higher end Bosch stuff, where as Subaru uses a mix of Deutsch and Bosch connectors. The Deutsch have a rubber stopper on the wire itself and normally an o-ring inside the plug but not for all of them. The Toyota Bosch are normally much better sealed with a stopper on the wire and a big wide gasket inside the plug as well. BUT i would still recommend to stay away from the acidic degreasers and cleaners because they certainly will eat stuff up and rust almost everything under the hood.


Typical Subaru electrical connector



Typical Toyota connector

 

I have never washed an engine bay

 

Detailing friend turned me on to this right after I purchased my 2014 T4R.

It's good stuff!


Shine Supply Solution, mixed to proper ratio.
You can clean engine bay to tires, wheels, undercarriage, inside wheel wells.....
Then rinse with a hose and any decent spray nozzle.
No, I never worry about electrical stuff.....the T4R has sealed electrical connection!

https://shinesupply.com/products/solution

 

There's lots of ways to clean your engine bay safely and effectively. But what I do not recommend at all is spraying it down with solvent based tire dressing. Hoses are not the same rubber as your tires and the solvent just eats through radiator hoses, heater hoses, wire loom plastics, etc.

No one has said anything about it yet.but stealerships and detail shops LOVE doing that cuz it makes it pretty and shiny.

 

Copy that.
There are special products used for that.
Adam’s polishes has that.
I use (as detailers use) with confidence!
Doesn’t leave a film or attract dust.

 

Excellent point.