OK to Powerwash Engine and Tranny

[vesnyder]

Removed my motor and was wondering if it is OK to powerwash the engine and transmission to remove years of gunk? What all do I need to cover?

[diabolos88]

do a search brother (don't you just hate when people say that?)

no just kidding, but you can save some time just clicking here

http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/concours_corner/concours_corner-6.htm
http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/concours_corner/concours_corner-7.htm

[emcdan]

I did. I took the engine and tranny out, loaded it on a trailor and off to the car wash. There I used some engine cleaners and toothbrushes.

There are several critical spots that have to be covered. Any and all electrical compenents, gas/oil lines/ hoses, clutch inspection hole, trans breather, shift shaft, intake, and the cv joint flanges and HE holes (if applicable). I probably forgot a couple.

Don't directly spray seals. Be very cautious.

Leave trans oil in. Replace after cleaning.

[defcon65]

Porsche God Mr. Grady Clay wisely pointed out in a somewhat recent thread that the last thing you want inside a tranny (or engine) is water - too many expensive steel components to corrode. A high-pressure sprayer will force water into places a garden hose never would, and this is bad. Try this method: First scrape off all the thick gunk you can get at with a wooden scraper - a paint stir stick works well. Then brush as much of the remaining crud off with a stiff nylon or fiber long-handled brush. Sweep it up and throw it away. Then apply Gunk foamy engine brite or similar degreasing cleaner and scrub to loosen remaining residues. Then you can rinse it pretty clean without using a high pressure spray. Avoid rinsing excess emulsified petroleum residues into yards, streets, sewers, etc. It contaminates ground water and may be illegal (ought to be) in your area. A better idea might be to clean it with the engine in car and rinse at your local carwash or take it there in a pickup bed if it's already out of the car and clean it there. These facilities have the correct drainage filters to remove the petroleum waste and dispose of it in an environmentally friendly way.

[porschenut]

I've found no need to use high-pressure anything. Let the chemicals do the work (well, some scrubbing too) and simply rinse with streaming water from a hose. Don't try to blast it off or you'll end up with water where you don't want it. I've also found that if I just use the hose water, there's no need to cover up electrical parts. They'll all be dry by the time you're ready to fire it up anyway. All I do is stuff a sock in the intake. Here are some pics of my 928 engine, which I detail every time I wash the car.

[diabolos88]

Porschenut,
ok, I follow you on the pressure water deal but which chemicals do you use on that shark? It looks like brand new

[David E. Clark]

Originally posted by porschenut
I've found no need to use high-pressure anything. Let the chemicals do the work (well, some scrubbing too) and simply rinse with streaming water from a hose. Don't try to blast it off or you'll end up with water where you don't want it. I've also found that if I just use the hose water, there's no need to cover up electrical parts. They'll all be dry by the time you're ready to fire it up anyway. All I do is stuff a sock in the intake. Here are some pics of my 928 engine, which I detail every time I wash the car.

Wow! These must be pictures from the incredibly rare 2006 928.

[porschenut]

Believe it or not, I only use 2 things - I clean the engine with P21S Total Auto Wash and then rinse it off. Just light wiping with a clean rag is all that's needed. After it dries, I use Vinylex on the hoses, plastic parts, wire bundles and anything else made of plastic or rubber. Makes it all look brand new.

Now, if the engine is really greasy and hasn't been thoroughly cleaned before, you'll need to do more than this. But you only have to do the major cleaning once. It's very easy to keep clean once you have it looking this way.

[Kroggers]

I have been told to generally cover the engine when it is dry with WD-40 to protect it as a final step - any comments on this??

[Joe Bob]

When I did mine....seperated, the clutch disc ended up bonding to the flywheel. Had to pull the clutch and brillo pad the flywheel.

Engine and trans looks great, fixed all the oil leaks .... but had to pull the engine after the install to fix that clutch.

[88911coupe]

I came up with an alternative to using my high power pressure washer. I used an industrial version of Dawn (yes, the dish soap company) that someone recommended here on Pelican IIRC. Once it's done its work I use plain water in a pump sprayer from Lowes that has never been used with weedkiller or anything like that. It's got a decent amount of pressure and does a GREAT job of rinsing off the dissolved grease and grime. I put an old rug below it to catch the majority of the gunk.

[ADDvanced]

... wh... why are you responding to this thread from 2006?

[almostordinary]

glad this got resurrected... I was going to pull out my pressure washer and start blastin'

[HarryD]

1 to change the light bulb and 1 to post that the light bulb has been changed

14 to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and how the light bulb could have been changed differently

7 to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs

27 to point out spelling/grammar errors in posts about changing light bulbs

53 to flame the spell checkers

41 to correct spelling/grammar flames

35 to tell the original poster to do a search

6 to argue over whether it's "lightbulb" or "light bulb"

... another 6 to condemn those 6 as anal-retentive

2 industry professionals to inform the group that the proper term is "lamp"

15 know-it-alls who claim *they* were in the industry, and that "light bulb" is perfectly correct

156 to email the participant's ISPs complaining that they are in violation of their "acceptable use policy"

109 to post that this forum is not about light bulbs and to please take this discussion to a lightbulb forum

203 to demand that cross posting to hardware forum, off-topic forum, and lightbulb forum about changing light bulbs be stopped

111 to defend the posting to this forum saying that we all use light bulbs and therefore the posts *are* relevant to this forum

306 to debate which method of changing light bulbs is superior, where to buy the best light bulbs, what brand of light bulbs work best for this technique and what brands are faulty

27 to post URL's where one can see examples of different light bulbs

14 to post that the URL's were posted incorrectly and then post the corrected URL's

3 to post about links they found from the URL's that are relevant to this group which makes light bulbs relevant to this group

33 to link all posts to date, quote them in their entirety including all headers and signatures, and add "Me too"

12 to post to the group that they will no longer post because they cannot handle the light bulb controversy

19 to quote the "Me too's" to say "Me three"

4 to suggest that posters request the light bulb FAQ

44 to ask what is a "FAQ"

4 to say "didn't we go through this already a short time ago?"

143 to say "do a Google search on light bulbs before posting questions about light bulbs"

1 new forum member to respond to the original post 6 months from now and start it all over again

[smadsen]

After 17 years 88911 had a 'new wrinkle" on cleaning your motor. Who knew there was industrial strength dish soap? After all, cleanliness is next to Godliness. What better place to post it?

(I invoke Godliness just to see if I can get the conversation to spool off into outer space).

[jac1976]

Originally Posted by HarryD

1 to change the light bulb and 1 to post that the light bulb has been changed

14 to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and how the light bulb could have been changed differently

7 to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs

27 to point out spelling/grammar errors in posts about changing light bulbs

53 to flame the spell checkers

41 to correct spelling/grammar flames

35 to tell the original poster to do a search

6 to argue over whether it's "lightbulb" or "light bulb"

... another 6 to condemn those 6 as anal-retentive

2 industry professionals to inform the group that the proper term is "lamp"

15 know-it-alls who claim *they* were in the industry, and that "light bulb" is perfectly correct

156 to email the participant's ISPs complaining that they are in violation of their "acceptable use policy"

109 to post that this forum is not about light bulbs and to please take this discussion to a lightbulb forum

203 to demand that cross posting to hardware forum, off-topic forum, and lightbulb forum about changing light bulbs be stopped

111 to defend the posting to this forum saying that we all use light bulbs and therefore the posts *are* relevant to this forum

306 to debate which method of changing light bulbs is superior, where to buy the best light bulbs, what brand of light bulbs work best for this technique and what brands are faulty

27 to post URL's where one can see examples of different light bulbs

14 to post that the URL's were posted incorrectly and then post the corrected URL's

3 to post about links they found from the URL's that are relevant to this group which makes light bulbs relevant to this group

33 to link all posts to date, quote them in their entirety including all headers and signatures, and add "Me too"

12 to post to the group that they will no longer post because they cannot handle the light bulb controversy

19 to quote the "Me too's" to say "Me three"

4 to suggest that posters request the light bulb FAQ

44 to ask what is a "FAQ"

4 to say "didn't we go through this already a short time ago?"

143 to say "do a Google search on light bulbs before posting questions about light bulbs"

1 new forum member to respond to the original post 6 months from now and start it all over again

Always pure gold.

[Koizumi]

I kinda am partial to necroposting. And I have one of those small hand pumped pressure washers (I use it for gardening purposes). I’ll give it a shot actually, sounds like a good idea . Cheers