I have been inspired to clean my engine bay, the trouple is it's covered in laquer and dust / crap. I've looked at the Autoglym website which suggests covering all electrics with Clingfilm, cleaning it with their engine cleaner stuff, rinsing it with water then coating it with their rubber cleaner.

 

I did clean the engine on my 200sx once, it din't run right for about 6 weeks after and so am reluctant to try on my 300.

 

Has anyone got any good advice on products / methods to ensure I can do this easily / safely, or am I asking for trouble.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Herman

Hi Matey

As you have laquer to remove and as you say a layer of dust its gOnna be a bit of a pig.

 

However the method I use is not to try and get instant results unless you are VERY dedicated.

 

Use a water base degreasant like ones for push bikes or the like in a trigger spray,work an area at a time and use a stiff brush to work it in.Use a spare trigger spray bottle with a week mixture of water and washing up liquid,try not to get anywhere too wet especially by connectors but do swill down the loose surface crap.

 

Now either wait to dry or dry with kitchen roll, now onto the laquer, attack it with brake or carb cleaner and a toothbrush or a bigger stiff brush (like one`s for wheels)again work a small area.By now your fingers are gonna be feeling sore so have a break and tackle it later otherwise bordom sets in and the whole job becomes a task.

 

Once rested (lol) and happy with the now cleaner engine and surrounding paintwork check for area`s missed between cable at the bulhead and the battery etc.

 

Once happy with it all and with the engine cold and dry empty half the contents of a can of cockpit spray (silicon) over everything, the gooier it looks the better.

leave this as long as you can (3 to 5 hours) and then wipe it all over with a clean cloth and keep changing the cloth as it gets dirty. You will eventually end up with a clean engine bay and engine which has a satin`ish shine and is not sticky or gooey

 

As a maintenance tip a clean 4" wide paint brush and some kitchen roll once a week brush over the engine and wipe off the brush on the cloth.Sound boring but once clean then it`s a 10 mins job per week to keep clean.From there you can take on area`s in isolation which need special attention, hope that helps

 

Good luck and mind those fingers.

 

Jeff TT

 

 

Thanks for taking the time to reply Jeff, can you recommend any particularly good products for doing the job?

 

Herman

 

i know this is exreme but when using the brush to clean up as above get a hoover on the go as well as this get rid of a lot of dust/dirt that otherwise ends up back on the engine when you drop the bonnet and air gets under there

Just a quick question. How do you clean around the HICAS unit etc..? Theres loads of pipes in the way, I tried but ended up ripping all the skin off my fingers which aint good at all

To clean around the hicas just blaat with brake cleaner and use a small toothbrush to get at the crap, after it is done once you will not have to do it again.

 

Herman no particular products, however brake cleaner and the like can be quite expensive from Halfords etc, as I get it trade it`s easy for me to be wasteful with it.If anyone interested will be at Billing can bring a load with me, can do it for like £2:00 a can and similar for the degreasrr I think.

 

Jeff TT

ok jeff ill buy some at Billing, u can show me how its done too, actually ita a bit late for the show, but still, ill clean everywhere i can reach before then

Clarkey as your only in Wolverhampton why not come over to the workshop (Tamworth) and pick some up? can be all clean for billing then.

 

Jeff TT