Washing the Engine Compartment

[DanEC]

Originally Posted by CHANMADD

I've used a pressure washer for years...

I was waiting for someone to break the ice. I've washed engine bays down in most of my cars since probably 1969 - in car washes and with a hose. I haven't used my pressure washer but with a wide pattern I would not be afraid to. The worst thing that ever happened was a wet distributor cap. Learned to spray them inside with WD-40 at an early age. That being said I don't wash down either my ERA or my 66 Corvette engine bay since I restored it. Neither one gets enough miles to need to do more than wipe them down periodically - but if I did put a lot of miles on them I would tape plastic bags over the distributor and air cleaners, spray the area with a diluted mix of Simple Green and water, use a soft bristle paint brush on any especially grimy areas, rinse with water out of a garden hose and use compressed air or my leaf blower to blow it down before drying with towels. I then start the motor and let engine heat and fan air finish drying out all the crevices.

[Tim7139]

This is fairly straight forward with proper care.
First, cover obvious problem areas like bare electrical connections, carb intake, distributor and control box.
Get a container of S100 motorcycle wash and LIGHTLY spray it in a cool engine compartment, as per directions.
Follow up with a light spray to wash off.
This last part is a huge improvement......if you have access to a compressor, crank it up to 100 psi or so and with a blow gun, hopefully with an extension, blow all residual moisture out until dry.
Using this method will get it pretty clean without water spots.