Jet washing the engine.

[rio678]

Hello all,

just wondering ive seen alot of people do it, they are jet washing their engines, mines all grubby, can i do it safely? if so whats the risks!, i am reluctant to do it, but it does look horrid!

 

[Myros]

stay away from the electrics

and any hot exhaust manifolds. I'd be tempted to use a degreaser/Gunk instead.

 

[Blobcat]

I'm also not keen on perssure washing or steam cleaning engine bays. It can get very expensive if it goes wrong.
WD40 and a rag is a good way to clean up the engine bay. Alternatively keep the bonnet closed

 

[jberks]

I second Myros's advice. You can cover electrical components with plastic bags but a jetwash is still likely to get places you'd rather it didn't. It really isn't worth the risk, go with gunk instead.

 

[rio678]

OK thanks! , well i thought it's quite risky, i shall stick with cleaning by hand

 

[74merc]

i used autoglym engine cleaner along with their alloy wheel cleaning brush on mine. i decided to use a hose instead of the power washer to wash it off as i was worried about getting water into the electrics. although the engine bay looked fantastic, the car then only ran on 5 cylinders (out of 6). i sprayed everything in wd40 and left it to dry for a few days and now it's running perfectly again. also, spraying autoglym vinyl and rubber care on the engine when it's still wet brings all the black plastic and rubber up lovely.

 

[rio678]

ah yep i have that rubber and vinyl care stuff for my interior , it's fantastic, nothing has cleaned up my dash better, but i shall give that a go too , thanks

 

[Mounis]

YEE HAW!!!! I'm a COWBOY!!

I quite like jet washing engines... Spray on gunk and degreaser, use a brush to move built up grease and grime and then jet wash away! Great fun! BUT made a mistake in my youth (I was 18 at the time) and jet washed my engine, tryed starting it and nothing happened... Got towed home and had to wait for a day or so for it to all dry out and car was fine... Since then I always leave the engine running!!! Maybe I am a cowboy, but I've never had a problem, jet wash a warm engine, drive the car for a few miles after, bring it home, spray lots of WD40 all over the place and soon enough it drys leaving a gleaming engine bay... Works on both diesel and petrol!

Great stuff!!

 

[kiwi_bloke]

washing

I would also steer away from jet washing. All my experiences have been bad!

Water in electrical connectors equate to no starting, spluttering and missing!

If you were inclined to do it tho, as above, cover up all electicals with bags, and I would suggest letting the engine run while you are doing it.

 

[Bobthebuilder58]

Hello all,

just wondering ive seen alot of people do it, they are jet washing their engines, mines all grubby, can i do it safely? if so whats the risks!, i am reluctant to do it, but it does look horrid!

We covered this subject in some detail a short while ago!
I still haven't done mine yet..............

 

[television]

We covered this subject in some detail a short while ago!
I still haven't done mine yet..............

How can you drive around knowing its dirty, what are you going to do if someone asks to see your engine ?

malcolm

 

[anyweb]

well i do it !

well i do it to the top of the engine and below

and for a good reason, my head gasket was leaking oil. A quick discussion with this forum and the local 'indy' prior to my road worthiness test (mot, or bilprovning as its called here in sweden) was, don't both fixing the gasket, just spray the oil away.

and that's exactly what i did, from below the engine, and above, with a powered spray hose. I did my 'bilprovnin' (mot) and this time instead of 'you must fix the oil leak' i got a clean record.

and absolutely no damage to the electrics either,

if you want to try this yourself, spray away, but don't spray at the 'obvious' electrical areas such as the fuse box etc

cheers
anyweb

 

[turnipsock]

It's unlucky to clean any part of your car.

Cleaning the engine bay is just silly, you can wash grease out of everything not to mention what you could do to the electrics.

Jet washes, at petrol stations, are great for spraying the people at the pumps (accidently). Hours of amusment...

 

[Bobthebuilder58]

How can you drive around knowing its dirty, what are you going to do if someone asks to see your engine ?

Malcolm

Easy.......I just put my green hat on and tell them that I am saving water for the benefit of the environment

Bob.

 

[Coulsdon Eagle]

jet washing a diesel engine shouldn't cause too many problems, but the best way to do it if you must is to go to a local garage and have it steam cleaned, the heat from the steam helps to disolve grease, and dries the engine and bay out a lot quicker

 

[mioba]

jet washing a diesel engine shouldn't cause too many problems, but the best way to do it if you must is to go to a local garage and have it steam cleaned, the heat from the steam helps to disolve grease, and dries the engine and bay out a lot quicker

Have to agree with that, but again as mentioned make sure to cover up ALL the electricals.

you can buy wallpaper steamers, with attchments that enable you to use them for other cleaning jobs (ie car engine bay)

otherwise look in yellow pages under steam cleaning.

I used a chap in nottingham about a year ago £20 for engine steam clean and it was a good job.

 

[Coulsdon Eagle]

Since then I always leave the engine running!!!

the one thing you should never ever do, you run a serious risk of water being sucked into the air intake and into the engine

 

[Flying Scot]

So

what is wrong with water injection? was ok for Spitfires is this an anti-german thread ---- ooops sorry i forgot and mentioned the war

 

[Bobthebuilder58]

what is wrong with water injection? was ok for Spitfires is this an anti-german thread ---- ooops sorry i forgot and mentioned the war

What ever happened to all those luxury cars including Merc's that went down in the channel a couple of years back?They would put "Jet Washing Engine Bays" to the ultimate test!

Bob.

 

[Ampstar]

When I bought mine the owner sai she had justy had the engine stem cleaned.

From what I can make out, they must have done behind all the pullies and alternator, as mine made quite a lot of noise. I sprayed some WD40 on all the pulley bearings, and the noise stopped. It does occassionally come back, so I just give all the pullies a little squirt of engine oil.

Seems that the steam knocks all the grease out of these items. Keep away from these and the electrics, and no problems should occur.