how do you clean the bottom of the car (not the engine)

[e_nough]

i need to clean up the rear of my car to get at the cv joints and brakes and i dont want to get a ton of dirt in the components as i disassemble everything. So, how do you guys clean this gunk that is a combination of road dirt, brake fluid, and plain old muck.

im looking for a good solution like degreaser on the warm engine - i.e. very little scrubbing involved.

thanks

[mike944]

what i usually do, is go down to the local do-it-yourself car wash at some late hour (the coin operated machines are usually turned on 24/7) bring a floor jack, and jack the car up enough to get access to what you need to clean, and blast away. Just a word of warning, make damn sure you know where you're spraying, that high-pressure water will find it's way into anything that isn't perfectly sealed.

[e_nough]

like what should i NOT spray?

is the tranny sealed (except for the little valve on the top)

are the cv joints sealed pretty well?

does it help if you can get the sprayer farther away from the car to reduce the pressure?

[Blackfoot]

avoid using water. it can too easily get where you don't want it. the best solution is to shell out some bucks and get it steam-cleaned. let your fingers do the walking...

[e_nough]

ive been thinking about making a steam cleaner.

im thinking if you can just get say a pressure cooker and a big stove to heat up the water you can hook up a hose to a fitting on the pressure cooker and put a nozzle on the end. if you get a big enough pressure cooker and a hot enough stove, you can probably get a good flow of steam. i remember from thermodynamics that the energy it would take to boil the water flowing at a certain rate is something like m-dot time "Cp" times something else. i cant remember that. anyone working on their engineering degree that can help us out?

another idea is to run some water through a ver small diameter copper pipe and aim a blow torch on the pipe, and the water would heat up really fast and come out the pipe as steam. unlikely that it would work very well but its worth a try.

[nigel]

Believe it or not, I used a nail brush, and washing up liquid. Then rinse with hot water and a large sponge. This got the bottom clean enough to paint, so you know it works!! The trouble with steam cleaners on underbody areas, is the same as water, it gets in everywhere, with the added problem of being very hot and under very high pressure. I once steam cleaned the engine in a car, and it literally peeled some paint off the inner fender!!

[p0r2chby]

I have had good success by using "Simple green" and a variety of brushes. Dish scrubbers and even a toilet brush. After soaking an area and letting it sit for a moment, I then scrub with the brush and then rinse with water using a "squirt" type pressure nozzle. Some area will take a second or third pass but the results are worth the effort.

[marksportcts]

If your going to use a pressure cooker, can you boil us some lobsters? Great clean-up job followed by a great lunch or dinner.