# Volvo V70 R engine clean with Gunk Spray



## BolgOfTheNorth (Dec 19, 2011)

I'm going to be detailing a friend's Audi TT soon (I'll try to do a write up about it) and I needed something to give the engine bay a bit of spruce up so I brought a can of can of Gunk Engine Degeasant. I know products like Meguiars All Purpose Cleaner or Super Degreaser are highly recommended and are much better value in the long run but I have very limited funds at the moment so I thought I'd give Gunk a try.

Engine cleaning is the only part of detailing I've never really tackled and I wanted to have a bit of experience of doing it before I do my friends Audi so I thought I'd try my first attempt on my Dad's Volvo V70 R.

Here is what it looks like. I love this thing, 300 bhp, 4WD, smart & subtle styling, very practical and quite rare.










The engine bay was in serious need of attention as it has probably never been cleaned, certainly not in the six and half years my Dad has owned the car.




























The instructions say apply to a warm engine so I let it tick over for just a minute or two, covered a few electrical connections with cling film then sprayed the degreaser over everything. The product is a thin, clear, water-like liquid.



















After about 5 minutes some areas looked like they were starting to dry out so I then agitated the majority of surfaces with one of those hand brushes you can connect a hose to (without the hose connected of course) and a Valet Pro 1 inch detail brush.










I then rinsed it all down with a hose, I was in two minds whether to use the pressure washer as I've heard a lot of conflicting opinions on which is most suitable for this task, I decided to just use the hose though as that seemed sufficient and the safest way as I don't have any alternative settings on my pressure washer.

To dry I started the engine and let it run for a minute or so (removing the cling film from the electrics beforehand) and wiped down the major areas with kitchen paper (got some cheap microfibers on order for doing this in future).




























As you can see the plastics then badly needed some dressing, I didn't have any kind of dressing product for engines so I had to just make do with what I had so I dressed the major plastic areas with Autoglym Bumper Care.



















Here are the before and afters.





































































There is no doubt Gunk Engine Degreasant is a decent product however this spray version doesn't really go that far. I thought I used it quite sparingly yet there seems to be only about quarter of the can left so with a neglected engine like this you really need to use the whole can, it therefore is not what you would call good value but I suppose it's okay if you just need to do a one-off engine clean. There is also a brush on version which is only 50p more expensive and you get 1 litre instead of 500ml but despite that I decided to go for the spray partly because I wasn't expecting it to be used up so quickly but mainly for its ease of use.

This was by no means a full engine detail it was more of quick clean up. It ideally needed a second hit of degreaser but I used more than I intended and I needed to save what little I have left for the detailing job I have coming up so I'll give the old Volvo a more thorough going over when I have a more suitable range of engine detailing products.


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## Grizzle (Jul 12, 2006)

Dont suppose your mate is selling it?? lol, looking for a V70 my self.


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## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

Looks like it does the job mate! As you say, very nice car - subtle styling but a real powerhouse. Nice work


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## BolgOfTheNorth (Dec 19, 2011)

Grizzle said:


> Dont suppose your mate is selling it?? lol, looking for a V70 my self.


Well he was about 6 months ago but after finding out how much it has depreciated (even though it's relatively low mileage and a rare model) I think he's decided to keep it.


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## alan_mcc (Oct 28, 2008)

The 'brush on' stuff can be used through a spray bottle and it's very effective and economical.
Good job!


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## Ninja59 (Feb 17, 2009)

Grizzle said:


> Dont suppose your mate is selling it?? lol, looking for a V70 my self.


http://pistonheads.com/sales/3888074.htm

http://pistonheads.com/sales/3731545.htm

you know you wanna grizzle come join the darkside.

nice job on the bay


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## BolgOfTheNorth (Dec 19, 2011)

JBirchy said:


> Looks like it does the job mate! As you say, very nice car - subtle styling but a real powerhouse. Nice work


Thanks mate, yeah it's an awesome bit of kit, great fun embarrassing boy racers in it :lol:.


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## BolgOfTheNorth (Dec 19, 2011)

alan_mcc said:


> The 'brush on' stuff can be used through a spray bottle and it's very effective and economical.
> Good job!


Cheers mate. Yeah I did think about doing that but wasn't sure if it would be as effective. Wish I tried it though as soon as I noticed how quickly the can got used up. That's useful to know, thanks.


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## BolgOfTheNorth (Dec 19, 2011)

Ninja59 said:


> http://pistonheads.com/sales/3888074.htm
> 
> http://pistonheads.com/sales/3731545.htm
> 
> ...


Thanks mate. Those are quite a good buy, you get a lot of car for the money. They're obviously pretty thirsty though but the insurance for such a powerful car is very reasonable.


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## Seanseansean (Jan 8, 2012)

Good little review, I have used that gunk a few times and it's quite good.
Cleaned up my egr valve out with it too.


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## BolgOfTheNorth (Dec 19, 2011)

Seanseansean said:


> Good little review, I have used that gunk a few times and it's quite good.
> Cleaned up my egr valve out with it too.


Cheers mate. Yeah I was quite impressed by its performance, although it didn't seem to have much effect on the rougher textured surfaces like on the inlet manifold and intercooler pipe but I sure a second application would have cleaned them up a bit better.


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