Cleaning engine bay

Any one cleaned their engine bays? I've done it once in my GTO. I need to clean mine pretty badly but i wanted to ask opinions on certain things I should cover and avoid getting a whole lot of water on. Also, I only have access to the car washes with the power washers, no regular house hold water hose. Should I use the "pre-soak" that barely has any pressure or is it okay to use the higher pressures?

 

I go to a DIY car wash that has an engine degreaser setting. I give it a quick go over. Don't need to rinse. Comes out great every time with no issues. I do it once a month.

 

Haven't done my 2015 Tundra yet, but with the two older Tacomas I used to own, I used the degreaser at the coin-operated wash, then rinsed with the wand on low (without squeezing the high pressure trigger), all while the engine was running. I never covered anything and even sprayed the battery down to help get rid of any corrosive build-up on the positive terminal. Never had a problem in the 10 years and 205K miles that I had my 3.4L V6 '03 Taco before I sold it.

Now with the '99 2.7L 4 cyl Taco I used to own, I also did it the same way, but later suffered a cracked exhaust manifold in between the number 2 and number 3 cylinders. I don't believe washing the engine bay was the cause of that, though, because there were a slew of cracked 2.7L 4 cyl exhaust manifolds in the same spot in the earlier 1st Gen Tacomas (which later gave rise to upgrading them to the LC Engineering header), but thought I'd mention this little tidbit just in case. After replacing the stock exhaust manifold with the LCE header, I continued to wash the 2.7L engine bay the same way with no problems whatsoever until I wrecked it and eventually traded it in with 185K miles for the '03 Tacoma.

Don't know what to expect with the Tundra, though, but I might try using Simple Green and then gently spraying it down with a garden hose on low while the engine is cold.

 

I always have used Purple Power. I would get the engine wet, then spray it up with the degreaser. I'd wipe a few things down and spray it off.

 

I sprayed purple power, scrubbed what i could reach, then use the "rinse" setting at the car wash but didn't pull the trigger and I stood a little away to keep the pressure off. It worked okay, it needed more scrubbing but I didn't have s step stool and I can't reach most of it haha.

Now I have these light bars fuses/relays and HID ballasts in there so I'm more nervous to do it and get that stuff wet

 

From my personal experience, I've never covered up my ballasts. There was never an issue. I never sprayed the ballasts with direct water but they definitely got wet when I was cleaning the bay.

 

Most auto parts sell cleaning products for the engine bay that are designed to clean an engine and the components located under the hood. Degreaser is a bit strong of a product to be using on many of the hoses and other rubber items under the hood, and will cause them to dry out and become damaged!
I use one called Gunk foamy to clean the engine and the same company makes one you use afterward to shine the engine and keep all the rubber hoses from getting damaged.
The results speak for themselves

 

Looks brand new!
What areas do you avoid getting that stuff on, any?

 

I put it on everything, I only do it when the engine is cold though, and use low pressure water to rinse it off, I wish I had taken a before picture, I had just gotten back from a 3800mile road trip and it was disgusting

 

I have used many products in the past, and have learned from experience the hard way that using regular cleaning degreaser is a bad idea!!
Also never use on a hot engine or use a high pressure stream of water to clean.
Our modern engines have the electrical connection setup with a rubber seal that is intended to protect the connections from rain spray from the road which is why low pressure water rinse is a safe cleaning method.

 

Check Walmart may be the cheapest place to get it, it's about $4 a can

 

You won't regret it

 

I was goofing off in a mud hole and it splash all inside the engine bay. Everything was covered in mud. Mine needs some work. I'm going to grab me some of that stuff when it stops raining finally

 

REMARKABLE. I used the same products on my old Barracuda and Camaro.

 

Same at my local Walmart south of Dallas.

 

Autozone in my area has it for sure, cleaned mine just yesterday, want to get it all nice and clean before I drop it off to install the supercharger

 

Definitely getting this... This NJ mud is definitely something else.. Thanks Airbagged!

 

Your welcome!
A lot of people have passed on good advice on here, if I can help a little too, that's cool

 

You can't beat GUNK. Actually cleaned up the engine bay the other day. Looks great.

 

I tried the Gunk Heavy Duty Foam spray this afternoon. Followed the instructions, but it left a slightly whitish, spotty film on some of the rubber hoses. It eventually came off after some more heavy rubbing with a rag. However, it still didn't get rid of some of oily, black stains on the windshield wiper fluid container (have no idea how they got there). Was able to find the Gunk Shine spray at the local Autozone, but didn't have time to apply it today. Will try it tomorrow if I have the time.

 

You may need to clean it a second time if the engine is very dirty!
You can also use a scrub brush on some of the heavily dirty areas after spraying the foamy.the shine will eliminate the white residue on the hoses.

 

Thanks for the tip, Airbagged. Got the truck new in August. Not sure how it got so dirty in such a short period of time doing mostly highway driving.

 

I feel you on that, mine gets filthy too on the highway.

 

Finally got to use the Gunk Shine. Much improved. Still some of the milky residue from the Gunk cleaner in the far reaches and nooks and crannies of the engine bay I couldn't get to, though. Also, it was the Gunk Heavy Duty Gel, not the foam spray like I mentioned earlier.

 

Tomorrow...

 

Your gonna love it.