# How to clean your engine bay



## volvodude

Ok time to give a little back as I have learnt many things from this site

So here is a guide to help you clean your engine bay weather it be to help increase re sell value or you just want to clean it like you would the rest of the car 

Ok first things first I was worried at first at the thought of putting a hose near my car but with reading up about it it didnt seem so bad, so im going to try an help ya get over the fear lol

Also apoligies if some of the pics are doubled or mixed up, I have never made such a big thread 

So here it is before ( I know its not really dirty as i cleaned it quickly a while ago)





































And here is the cavilary lol the cleaning crew etc etc



















Also this is the setting I have my hozelock set to










What you wanna do first is cover all the main electrics ( altho alot of people say this isn't necessary I do it for peace of mind) So to start covering, cover your ALTERNATOR, BATTERY, DISTRIBUTOR CAP and your AIR INTAKE (also it would be a good idea to spray a bit of wd-40 over the electrics in case any water gets on it)




























So to start off you wanna get the apc (all purpose cleaner) mixed to the right ratio so in this case its light grease so i used 2 capfuls of daisy apc and filled rest of bottle with warm water, by the way Im using an empty a/g (autoglym) bottle lol



















So give everything a good covering in the stuff and dont be shy, make sure to spray it in all the nooks and crannies the eye can see, once done you can aggigate the grease with the brush



















Dont forget the underside of the hood!

For more tougher grease you can spray some gunk ( each to their own lol) but I only used it on the lower of the engine bay










Now its time to rinse the grease off 



















Now for drying the the bay, for this I just use a cloth, well actually a few clothes as i dont have a compressor or blower etc lol ( will invest in one someday)










Now that you have dried it the best you can, you can now remove the bags or coverings or whatever you used to cover the electrical parts, now to start the car........ phew everything works lol let it run for a few mins and then turn it off, seeing as it was a hot day all the water soon dried up

So now to make the trim look nice ( ps I ran out of a/g bumper care) so you start by spraying it onto the black trim, at this point you can close the hood and leave it, or you can spray and wipe it on



















For the more awkward bits I used carplan tyre slik



















Also if you have the metal on show  you can hit it with the wire brush to take the dirt off it i didn't have alot of time so i could only scrub it so much










Also take the time to grease the hood hinge










And the latch










Now for the paint work, for the handier bits i used megs cleaner wax










For the less handier bits I used demon shine




























And this is what you should be left with 










by the way for the next pics I swapped the aftermarket filter back to the old one, in case your wondering


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## 2oh6

Very nice mate! Great tutorial


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## Junkman2008

Very good write-up!


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## MHTexPete

really useful thread.


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## woodym3

nice one. great write up.


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## penaul

very usefull cheers


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## SimonVTR

Reminds me, really need to do mine.


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## envoy cdx

Mine is rather bad, 17 or so years of grime and neglect.. Really need to get onto it


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## nick_mcuk

One tip spray the AG Rubber & Vinyl dressing liberally onto the engine and hoses etc whilst its still wet....then you can run the car up or just leave it dry naturally and trust me the finish you get is awesome.

This is the technique I use on my own cars and details I carry out.

The Wet helps the AG R&VD disperse and gives a "brand new" look to the engine.


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## macpingu

......


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## herbie147

Looks nice and clean


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## volvodude

nick_mcuk said:


> One tip spray the AG Rubber & Vinyl dressing liberally onto the engine and hoses etc whilst its still wet....then you can run the car up or just leave it dry naturally and trust me the finish you get is awesome.
> 
> This is the technique I use on my own cars and details I carry out.
> 
> The Wet helps the AG R&VD disperse and gives a "brand new" look to the engine.


Yeah mate I usually do that myself, just thought I would show the whole dry it first then apply AG


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## s_gosal

just wonder when wash the engine bay, do i need to wait till the engine cool down? 
cos i aafraid will damage the engine if when hot and spray the water


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## volvodude

Yeah Mate I would reccomend wating till its cool to touch altho a little warm aint too bad, main reasons for not washing a hot engine would be 
a)Cracked head 
b)Burn the hands off yourself

Good luck an be careful


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## VinnyTGM

volvodude said:


> Yeah Mate I would reccomend wating till its cool to touch altho a little warm aint too bad, main reasons for not washing a hot engine would be
> a)Cracked head
> b)Burn the hands off yourself
> 
> Good luck an be careful


And condensation getting into the electrics.


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## Ernie Bernie

Thanks for the great tutorial. Bit the bullet today and gave Harry the Honda a treat, cleaning his engine bay using the guide. And he still starts. Hooray, engine bay detailing feared no more.

To anyone else out there who was, like me, very nervous of doing this then I can only recommend you follow this guide and go for it!:thumb:


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## luke2402

cheers mate. great guide, i found it really helpful :thumb:


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## Haverty

hmm. sounds dangerous


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## Keir

Cool, I'll try this when I've got the time


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## volvodude

cleaned coolant expansion tank out the other day and cleaned washer bottle out aswell, pics up soon


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## volvodude

*Couple of the bay cleaned a good while ago *




























Took ages polishing the head (obv not to a shiny finish jus to get it clean)

Enjoy


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## bero1306

VERY CLEAN TA.


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## m3rchlz4

great, mate....


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## m3rchlz4

great, mate


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## jamesTelf

What did you use the daisy for ? and what ratio, cheers


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## volvodude

jamesTelf said:


> What did you use the daisy for ? and what ratio, cheers


Well I used the daisy for the really greasy parts at a ratio of 60/40 water/daisy

But to be honest a good bit of fairy liquid mixed with warm water in a spray bottle is just as good if not better that gunk stuff is actually really useless, so save your money and dont bother buy it


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## suspal

nick_mcuk said:


> One tip spray the AG Rubber & Vinyl dressing liberally onto the engine and hoses etc whilst its still wet....then you can run the car up or just leave it dry naturally and trust me the finish you get is awesome.
> 
> This is the technique I use on my own cars and details I carry out.
> 
> The Wet helps the AG R&VD disperse and gives a "brand new" look to the engine.


mate ure so right well worth it i buy a gallon at a time AG call it super sheen:thumb:


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