Pressure Washing an engine

[firefighter7128]

Im taking my car to a car wash to clean up the motor so i can find leaks easier. Any suggestions 1st? I know to do it on a cold engine or while running. anything else? I will be using GUNK as a cleaner.

[924Sman]

Bag the electronics, TB and AFM. Use a lower pressure spray. Try not to get Gunk on the rubber items, should be fine but some cleaners are hard on rubber. Make certain no oily residue gets on the belt drive. Let her dry good and enjoy the new engine bay. Cool engine and not running. Running can cause water to get sucked into the intake and/or cause the electronics to jump as in cross firing dizzy cap if not careful. Not concrete just a good measure to take.

Dal

[BeerBurner]

Definately cover that filter!

I've pressure washed my 944's engine with no real trouble, although now I prefer to douse it with Simple Green, let it sit for a bit, scrub it down with a brush and rinse it off with a hose. But my engine compartment is much cleaner than that, so you may need the extra oomph to get it cleaned.

BB.

[hpservertech]

if your taking it to one of those self wash places, definatly keep the engine running. This applies to any car, not just the 944's. Before you do though I would wonder about the green & red non stock wires with inline fuses on them. What the heck are they for? Some engine cleaners do best when the engine is hot so check them before you use them. Most of the self car wash places also switch over to using warm water during the winter monts too. Just be careful when you spray around the distributor.

[firefighter7128]

ya, its across the street. looks 100000% better i have a friend who is a detail shop mgr for a huge car dealer ship. im taking it to him tomarrow for a real detail job. cost me a beer.
Those wires go to the after market fogs and to the headlights. the motor doesnt work so the kid bypassed it. another project for me.

[Aufgeladen944]

I prefer some degreaser and a cloth. Safer bet I think.

I royally screwed up my 95 Prelude VTEC by pressure washing the bay. Water got into the spark plug holes. Cleared/dried it out, compression was okay, etc. Never understood what went wrong exactly, because I did tape/bag everything off, but it never ran right after that. Sooo...elbow grease from now on.

[flashgordon13]

That looks a thousand time better now! I wash my engine compartment every now and then just to keep it from getting too dirty. Some simple green and a garden hose will keep that engine compartment nice and clean now that all the heavy gunk is gone.

[legion]

Make sure to pull the spark plugs and clean out the cylinders.

[Dave L]

doh, dont do that ;0

I would recommend a battery cover or at least cover the terminals.

[Razorback1980]

I like Dave L's advice on the battery cover and not pulling spark plugs...careful Legion, someone might take you serious. Definitely looks better and will feel better when you work on things. Let us know when you start the headlight problem. Clarks will give you all the information you need to fix it but if not, don't be afraid to ask. The relay on the motor often times is the problem with the headlight motor. Good luck.

[firefighter7128]

ya steve is sending me a relay and we'll start with that. i really hope that is the issue. the car looks better with the lights down so every day i go out and do the ol twist to turn them back up. a real drag.

[looneybin]

I clean mine with simple green & low pressure from the hose.
I totally f'ed up an IROC-Z i had by pressure washing the motor, it trashed several of the sensors.
(but it did look great)

[924Sman]

Going to step in here for a few observations needing some attention.

1. Buy a throttle cam, you will love the throttle response...$20.00

2. See the 3 front cam housing nickel sized caps on top....get new crush washers for them....Pennies to the dollar and kills that leak/discolorization shown on the front cover near the cam gear.

3. Change the brake fluid, it looks nasty and never seen that color of fluid before on a P car, go ATE Super Blue....$10/$15.00

And for grins......never do this!

Dal

[rcecale]

If you really want to get nit-picky and do some fine detail cleaning, without a lot of mess, allow me to suggest something like this...


For $50.00 you could do a lot worse!

Randy

[Dtchy]

I did the same thing a couple of weeks ago. I bought a aerosol bottle of Gunk (orange cap, not the foam) and sprayed one complete can on the engine, covering up the distributor only.

Then after letting it wotk for about 15 min, start the engine and pressure wash the complete engine...don't be too worried...Looks CLEAN! And runs really good. I took some time to spray contact cleaner on the AFM connector as well...

[autoxr]

BE CAREFUL with high pressure water in the engine bay. Water is not supposed to be forced into some areas. Use a rag and a lot of elbow grease for safety! When you are all done, spray everything with silicone spray. When you are all done, your engine bay should be like looking up the skirt of tyra banks

[shikzachaser]

I normally wet everything down w/ Simple Green on a cold engine and let it sit for a half hour or so. I rinse w/ a garden hose. Works great, leaves no film, and is more environmentally friendly than most cleaners.



Steve