engine block wash

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spinny
Posts: 30
Joined: Mon Apr 30, 2012 1:20 pm

engine block wash

Post by spinny »

Trying to clean the block after years of grime and fluid leaks, and would like to wash the block. Hasn't been done in 10 years. Any advice? Anything to avoid? Power wash? Or just use sponge with soap and hose to rinse?

kbsilver
Posts: 413
Joined: Wed Sep 15, 2004 2:24 pm
Location: Morristown

Post by kbsilver »

I'm no expert but think a power washer is a big NO NO. You will drive water into places it's not suppose to be. I've done this with tide or dish soap, both are good grease cutters. If your car is old enough to have a distributor, you need to cover that, as well as your alternator. Of course no water in the air intake. Covering the PS reservoir is a good idea as well (there is a vent in the top).

You may want to warm the engine by running for a few minutes first. For real bad deposits you can start with a spray engine cleaner but I would limit that to the lower/dirtier parts of the engine. Using a sponge, brush with a handle, rag, etc, rub down all the areas you want to clean with a strong soap solution. Let it sit 5 minutes. Rinse with gentle flow (not a sprayer) out of the garden hose. Be careful around all electrical connectors.

Of course what is coming off in the cleaning process is not exactly environmentally friendly.

That's my 5 cents (was more than 2).
-Keith

'11 335D & '17 340GT

spinny
Posts: 30
Joined: Mon Apr 30, 2012 1:20 pm

Post by spinny »

Could be a challenge getting the lowers / undercarriage with a brush. Do car washes still do under car clean?

afadeev
Posts: 288
Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2009 9:02 pm

Post by afadeev »

spinny wrote:Could be a challenge getting the lowers / undercarriage with a brush. Do car washes still do under car clean?
I don't know what car you have, or how clean you want it to get (concours clean?), but I would not do anything beyond paper/rag cleaning of the surface areas you can reach with your hand. And that will be minimal and superficial.

10+ years of grime and oil leaks will not come off easily, and most engine bays are too tight to give the block a serious wash without taking the engine out of the car. Which is what it will take to properly clean it after bathing it in all sorts of nasty chemicals.

As Keith had mentioned, pressure washing will introduce water to the electrical connectors and lead to problems soon after.

alex

P.S.: If you want to see how hard it is to remove 6-year old grime from an engine block, I have my old blown MINI N14 engine still sitting in the garage. I tried spraying brake cleaner on a part of it, just for fun. Hardly made any difference.

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