# Tesco 'Value' engine bay detail - before and after pics!



## Matty77

Hi people,

A mate of mine just bought a 2002 Merc CLK 2.0 kompressor and I told him I'd help him get it detailed over the next few weeks (time, weather and wife permitting of course).

Anyway, earlier today I called over to his place to have a quick look at the car and see how much work would be needed to bring it up to par.

Overall it was in pretty good shape with excellent mechanics and the bodywork was pretty decent as well, but when he flipped the bonnet I really couldn't believe how filthy it was! It was so unloved under there that I instantly decided I had to attack it, right there and then with whatever products he could find in his kitchen 

It was starting to rain and my mate looked at me like I had genuinely lost the plot, but hey ho, needs must....and I really needed to give that engine bay a clean...with anything I could get my hands on!

While my buddy was digging around in the kitchen for cleaning products I took the a quick photo of the neglected CLK engine bay. Here's how it looked...










Can you see why I felt the need to attack it then and there? Or am I really OCD as the missus keeps telling me 

Anyway, my buddy eventually found some Tesco value APC under the sink, a new small paint brush, a washing up brush and some washing up foam pads (his missus is gonna kill him!) and a roll of cling film.

I then found a bottle of AG Vinyl and Rubber Care in my car boot, so all we needed was some water and we were good to go! A garden hose provided the solution.

My mate said he had some stuff to do indoors so he'd leave me to it.

I set to work first covering all the sensor connectors and the alternator with cling film. Then I gave the whole engine bay a liberal coating of APC and left it to dwell for a few minutes before agitating it with the small paint brush, then gently rinsing with find spray/mist of water while agitating a little more. I repeated that process a couple of times until I was reasonably happy with the way it looked. Total time spent: 45 minutes or so.

Next I dried everything I could find with two or three MF cloths, before dressing the plastics/hoses with AG Vinyl and Rubber care using a MF to buff.

After about an hour and a half in total it was looking pretty decent, given the time and the lack of products.

Here's an 'after' pic so you can judge for yourselves...










Needless to say, I didn't let my mate see it until I was done with it, and when I flipped the bonnet up I swear he almost had a heart attack! So yeah, he liked it. A lot 

In my mind there's still loads to do though (prep and respray engine covers, replace rusty nuts/screws, sort out corrosion on water pump and a few other parts etc plus lots of other little bits and pieces, but getting it to this stage is a good start and I went home quite satisfied with my efforts.

Thanks for reading. Comments and Questions welcome


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## Bartl

Great turn around.


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## m1pui

Great effort :thumb:

But have you dented/crushed the air intake pipe? The black plastic tubing to the right of the engine cover and in front of the silver braided hose?


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## Matty77

Hmm it does look that way doesn't it, but I'm just not that clumsy and that air intake is made of thick ABS plastic so would be virtually impossible to crush. 

Hmm, it's a strange one LOL, but my mate is coming over for tea tonight so I'll take a look at it then and report back with my findings. Watch this space!


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## m1pui

Closer look and I wonder if it's the shadow/reflection of the thin black pipe above it making it appear to have an outline of "the dent"


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## nbray67

It looks dented in the original pic to be honest, just more pronounced now it's nice n clean.
Great job by the way with limited products.


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## Matty77

m1pui said:


> Great effort :thumb:
> 
> But have you dented/crushed the air intake pipe? The black plastic tubing to the right of the engine cover and in front of the silver braided hose?


It was an optical illusion. I just took a picture of it....it's fine....phew!!!!


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## Matty77

m1pui said:


> Closer look and I wonder if it's the shadow/reflection of the thin black pipe above it making it appear to have an outline of "the dent"


It was! But thanks for the heads up anyway!


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## James Bagguley

Top job! really impressive considering what you had to hand, great work bud :thumb: (God i love using that thumb up smilie! :lol


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## TonyH38

:thumb:a great job considering the products on hand.


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## Darlofan

That's a great job that mate :thumb:

Just goes to show we're all wasting so much money on all these fancy potions and tools when you can do it with "no frills" products.

Bet you can't wait to get the rest of the car done?


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## steviebabe0

Cracking job, I'd be reassured as to the reliability with it being that dirty/dusty, shows theres been no need for any sort of tinkering under there for a while :thumb:


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## Deniance

sweet jesus, great budget turnaround, i bet he was well chuffed


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## NMH

Well impressive!


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## luke w

What a hero! Awesome work!


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## Matty77

Darlofan said:


> That's a great job that mate :thumb:
> 
> Just goes to show we're all wasting so much money on all these fancy potions and tools when you can do it with "no frills" products.
> 
> Bet you can't wait to get the rest of the car done?


You're right. I can't


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## Nick-ST

Wow what a difference!


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## steve.moody

Good job... However the first thing I saw in the after pic was the PG tips monkey sucking on a pipe! :lol: Anyone else see it??


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## Darlofan

steve.moody said:


> Good job... However the first thing I saw in the after pic was the PG tips monkey sucking on a pipe! :lol: Anyone else see it??
> 
> View attachment 34666


Oh yeah, is that Jesus in the rain droplets on the screen as well


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## PIRHONEY

steve.moody said:


> Good job... However the first thing I saw in the after pic was the PG tips monkey sucking on a pipe! :lol: Anyone else see it??


Ah yes.... now I see it!


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## Derekh929

TonyH38 said:


> :thumb:a great job considering the products on hand.


Very true but, the thing is you usually find this out after you have been sucked into marketing hype we all do about products to find out it no better than Tesco's basic range believe you me or a product at a 1/4 of its price, but sometimes the nice labels can fool us silly me:thumb:


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## Matty77

Derekh929 said:


> Very true but, the thing is you usually find this out after you have been sucked into marketing hype we all do about products to find out it no better than Tesco's basic range believe you me or a product at a 1/4 of its price, but sometimes the nice labels can fool us silly me:thumb:


The Tesco APC is 89p for a litre but you don't get any hype with it for that price


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## Derekh929

Matty77 said:


> The Tesco APC is 89p for a litre but you don't get any hype with it for that price


Every Little Helps


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## Matty77

steve.moody said:


> Good job... However the first thing I saw in the after pic was the PG tips monkey sucking on a pipe! :lol: Anyone else see it??
> 
> View attachment 34666


Ha ha I see it too and thanks for pointing it out but imho you really need help mate


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## Needs a clean

Looks great now. Im not a massive fan of fully detailed engine bays as i like the "used" look, but the before picture was a bit too used!!


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## RICH2508

Matty77 said:


> The Tesco APC is 89p for a litre but you don't get any hype with it for that price


The Value stuff was 17p for 500ml last time I got some, in fact just reminded me I need some more - I end up going and filling my trolley much to the bemusement of other shoppers.


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## Kenny Powers

Excellent turnaround on that engine bay Matty - having done a 1994 W202 for a mate a few weeks ago, I can vouch for the serious amount of elbow grease that went into that.


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## craigeh123

Tesco value apc is good stuff ! Nice work


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## lightningslow

Ignore. Having a senior moment


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## huzzy1

Really easy to improve the way a car looks with some basic products. It's amazing someone sold the car like this without thinking "Hmm , I'll give the engine a wipe over too". 

Looks good now!


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## TonyH38

A job well done .


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## xlfive

I'm really glad you posted this,i have learnt over the years that you really dont need expensive brand names to achieve a reasonable finish 
when i joined DW i was quickly drawn into to the hype that i had to follow the crowd and buy all the products and all the gear
this really isnt the case,after loosing my job and having no income i had to change the way i detail my car on a strict budget
i am not knocking any of the products sold on here as i know they do an excellent job but for those that are on a limited budget the above is proof you can get great results from everyday products


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## craigeh123

I wonder if i rebottle some Tesco apc and put it in a cool bottle with sticker what the results would be in a blind test


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## enc

Fantastic job with limited product !!


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## lightningslow

Really nice job. What concentration did you use?


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## chrissam

I've used Tesco APC for a few years now. You can't go wrong for 19p for a litre bottle. Is expensive APC really worth it? In my experience, no. I think in some cases, it's old fashioned badge/label snobbery.


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## craigblues

Great Job!  I've never tried or used Tesco APC on my vehicles but have always considered if great value but still working my way through a 5L G101 container.


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## Kirkyworld

Great work that, I wish I had mates like you.


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## TheGruffalo1

Well done, brilliant turnaround.


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## Matty77

lightningslow said:


> Really nice job. What concentration did you use?


I used it straight up 100% concentration :thumb:


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## Peter Yuill

Great job there.


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## Matty77

craigeh123 said:


> I wonder if i rebottle some Tesco apc and put it in a cool bottle with sticker what the results would be in a blind test


Now that would be an interesting test :thumb:


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## WAZ92

Looks like a new engine bay lol. Well done.


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## ryans2

Looks so much better, nice work.


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## meraredgti

smart mate


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## Justbaldchris

To be far that is one bosting job


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## Scotty B

Basic APC is just as good as the expensive stuff IMO.


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