HAWAI'I

cover all direct electrical components with plastic. then gunk. then spray away. get an air compressor or a big vacuum put in reverse. then let it rip. blow it dry.

D2-AUTOSPORT

Here's what I have done on all my cars (GS400 included)

Pick up Orange Cleaner from Walmart ( I never remember the name but its in a transparent orange bottle in the car section)

Drive to carwash that has highpressure wand sprayers for the water

LEAVE ENGINE RUNNING FOR THE ENTIRE TIME

Set cleaner nozzle to mist and spay all over the engine bay (use a wide sweeping motion to mist the entire engine bay dont just sit there and shoot the spary at electrical components)

Let it sit for 5 minutes

take high pressure wand and being misting the engine bay, USE WIDE SWEEPING MOTIONS and stand back about a foot.

just do this a few times until its rinsed. wipe dry then dress rubber hoses.

I have done this on countless cars countless times and NEVER had an issue. The problem comes when you use a garden hose, because its not a fine mist, its just gobs of water shooting straight at an engine. Also leaving the engine running ensures that most all exess water evaporates much faster.

EasyRyder

1) On a hot/warm engine, spray the entire engine compartment down with Windex.
Close the cowl(hood) and wait @ 3-5 minutes.


2) Lift the cowl(hood) and mist the engine compartment with water. Now spray
the entire area with Armor All. Close the cowl and again wait 3-5 minutes.


3) Repeat the Windex and Armor All application again. Now, after the second
coat of Armor All, close up the engine compartment and wash and detail
the exterior of your car.


4)When you are finished, open the cowl(hood) and wipe down any excess Armor All.

LazyAlex

thanks guys

sockfocks

iTrader: (1)

hmm...well i use low pressure soap and rinse at the car wash...works fine for me...

jwin

iTrader: (16)

if you clean your motor stay away from the coilpacks it will make you have a died cylinder i removed my throttlebody and some of the radiator fluid came out of the TB for the idle sensor and it gave me a died number 3 cylinder so just be careful

colinodon

I hate to resurrect this thread.. But I'm trying to clean the engine with the cover off and I leave the cover off of my gs400 because I prefer the way the engine looks not a contoured piece of plastic. How do I clean the heads of the engine ? Can I just spray on degreaser and blast it off? Or do I have to worry about the coil-on-plugs?

GS400V8

iTrader: (4)

Colinodon, I use brushes for dust, degreaser for the engine, and a solution of car soap/water for everything else. I use a ton of rags to get in hard to reach areas. I never spray large amounts of water in my engine bay, I just won't do it.

To get any remaining soap or cleaner off, I then just spray water out of a spray bottle onto the rags themselves, not on the actual parts I clean, and wipe. Pretty much like what most have said above!

colinodon

Cleaned out my engine bay by leaving it running and blasting with a high pressure soap and rinse. It was running fine til I drove out of the car was then it started to run like *****. I took apart the connectors from the harness to the coil-on-plug and on of them was packed with water. I tapped it against the engine to clear out the water and I dried up both ends and reconnected them and my car started to run perfectly again and stopped missing.

Lots of dust and grease were visibly blasted off of the engine.

eyecon7

iTrader: (2)

This! I was scared at first but thats what I do to clean my engine bays. I saw a dealership due it once. Have done it to my GS400 about 4 or 5 times.

colinodon

Yes, occasionally water will hit at the right angle just to fill a harness connector with water... Then you need to start hunting down which one it is. Since you're cleaning the engine it makes it easy to hunt it down. I felt a cylinder missing because I used to have 1994 maxima those were famous for dead cylinders from faulty oe injectors so I starting pulling the coils. Easy fix.

NJGS430

I just cleaned my gs430 & my 4runner engine bay this past weekend. a light spritz of water, spray simple green, and work over the nooks & cranies of the bay with an old paint bush, and a good water rinse again. Takes about 30 minutes & all clean. I've done this on plenty of previous cars. never a problem. Maybe 2-3x a year.
Makes future maintenance that much more pleasant.

Chris147

I used to work as a detailer for five years at Volkswagen HQ in Sweden where we pressure washed all of the engines no matter what type of car (even the R8, RS6, RS7 and similiar),

So far I've washed my engine with degreaser and a pressure washer about 25 times at least , without any problems.
Just dont get too close, i usually keep a distance of about 1-1,5 meter (nozzle to engine)

Just wipe everything with a dry microfiber towel and if you can, use compressed air.
Afterwards put on a protective layer of your choice (even olive oil works) on all of he plastic and everything will lokk good as new .

Simple stuff

kamlung

iTrader: (8)

+1 on the air compressor...

i don't leave the engine running when i introduce water near electronics... also, if i can access it usually wrap a plastic bag around the alternator...

my process is:

1. With the warm engine (not hot) OFF, i spray on any type of degreaser... you can use Simple Green, Orange Degreaser, Engine Cleaner they sell at autoparts store, or even Car Wash Mix/Dawn dishwashing detergent...
2. let the cleaner sit for 5-10 mins
3. use an old paint brush to clean off any hard to reach places or baked in dirt, i use my tire brush since it is thin enough to get between spokes, you can use it to get into little crevices...
4. spray some more cleaner on it and let it sit another 5 mins...
5. clean up any spots you may have missed on your first scrub down...
6. then rinse with a hose... don't power wash or direct water at the same place for a long period of time... start from the top and work your way down... with the hood open i usually spray the underside of the hood (if the insulation is removed) then work from the firewall towards the front of the car... spray in different angles so that you ensure that the water can clean off all the cleaner...
7. then i take my air compressor and blow off any loose water... if you don't have an air compressor, an electric leaf blower works also... get the water out of the crevices and important electronics like around the ECU, battery, coilpacks, etc...
8. start car to let it dry up any remaining water...
9. once everything is dry, apply dressing to rubber (radiator hoses, vacuum lines, etc)
10. drink beer

bruceb58

I do the same...never an issue.