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Cleaning your Engine Bay?


CleanGSR

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Adding to the original post since people get butthurt about product selection. The original post is a good guide regarding steps and techniques. Product selection plays a small role in the overall results and can be a big personal preference from person to person. I no longer even use the stuff listed in the first post (though I change up products about as often as underwear)

Edited by CleanGSR
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another good tip is to use a leaf blower to get the excess amount of water off of everything, and also to just dry most of the water out. works like a charm :)

 

Yup....good tip. Also using distilled or softened water for the final rinse will prevent water spots in the hard to reach areas.

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  • 1 year later...

Does it have to be a Wal-Mart bag for best results, or will a Target back give the same results? :p

 

Thanks for contributing the write-up :thumbsup:

 

I know this has been around a long, long time but please detail what areas to duct tape around th edistributor. I used the plastic bag method and then had to have my car towed to the local shop to work on the distributor and get it died out as it did manage to get wet and the car would not start. Also are there special relays or ALL relays should be avoided? Instead of having to be careful about the battery terminals would you recommend we remove the battery and cover the battery lead clamps?

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To be honest ive never bagged or taped my dizzy, relays, batt terminal, and have only had a problem once (the seal on my dizzy went bad), so i popped off the cap, dried it out, put it back on, and I was good to go. I clean my engine bay about once every other month (when i detail the rest of my car) so ive done it 6 or so times, and my prievious 2 hondas ive done the same, so all in all, probably 50 times ive cleaned my bay without taping anything, and had 1 problem (which i explained earlier)

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To be honest ive never bagged or taped my dizzy, relays, batt terminal, and have only had a problem once (the seal on my dizzy went bad), so i popped off the cap, dried it out, put it back on, and I was good to go. I clean my engine bay about once every other month (when i detail the rest of my car) so ive done it 6 or so times, and my prievious 2 hondas ive done the same, so all in all, probably 50 times ive cleaned my bay without taping anything, and had 1 problem (which i explained earlier)

 

Same here, and I am the king of clean engine bays, with the pics to prove it!:p Also all the autoparts store engine degreasers are crap, and most are hard on paint. I use a product that is safe on paint, and works better than any shelf bought spray!8) If you want me to I can add a link to the stuff I use! Safe on paint, little or no brush work, gets hoses and everything spotless!

Just because I am a pic whore here ya go!:D

 

HPIM1656.jpg

 

HPIM1693.jpg

HPIM3635.jpg

 

HPIM3671.jpg

HPIM1257.jpg

HPIM1403.jpg

HPIM1409.jpg

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Mike did you really have to post all of them? lol

 

Anyways yea whats that link? I need to get some asap so when I detail the new sol when I pull the engine out.

 

Dude thats like 10% of them!:D

Costs me like $12.00 a gallon and it makes 2 gallons 50\50 with water. If you give them your contact info. they will have a rep in your area get ahold of you.

 

Its the top one Red Devil

 

Best stuff you can buy!

Edited by mpearce1974
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Dude thats like 10% of them!:D

Costs me like $12.00 a gallon and it makes 2 gallons 50\50 with water. If you give them your contact info. they will have a rep in your area get ahold of you.

 

Its the top one Red Devil

 

Best stuff you can buy!

 

So I take it since it won't allow me to add to cart I have to talk to a rep first?

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So I take it since it won't allow me to add to cart I have to talk to a rep first?

 

You will pay less if you find it local anyways, just send them your contact info. Also their reps. are independent, so alot of the time if I pay cash I dont pay tax!8)

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Dude thats like 10% of them!:D

Costs me like $12.00 a gallon and it makes 2 gallons 50\50 with water. If you give them your contact info. they will have a rep in your area get ahold of you.

 

Its the top one Red Devil

 

Best stuff you can buy!

 

I see there is a hazardous material surcharge, do you recommend a respirator and rubber chemical resistant gloves when using the stuff? Also, in your before and after photos, how much elbow grease did it take to get it that clean? I guess I should start from the beginning. What items under the hood did you have to protect with plastic wrap, alumimum foil or a Walmart bag and duct tape? I assume it took more than spraying on a dilution of Red Devil and rinsing it off. I used to use a toilet bowl cleaning tool, that had a string mop like end on my show Carmaro but I was dealing with semi-gloss black not body color paint and huge engine bay. Your engine compartment looks like it has been carnuba'd!

 

Also, since the stuff seems to be real potent what kind of items should it not come in contact with, like soft plastic and rubber parts, will it dissolve anything in the engine compartment?

Edited by OSOLMIO
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To be honest ive never bagged or taped my dizzy, relays, batt terminal, and have only had a problem once (the seal on my dizzy went bad), so i popped off the cap, dried it out, put it back on, and I was good to go. I clean my engine bay about once every other month (when i detail the rest of my car) so ive done it 6 or so times, and my prievious 2 hondas ive done the same, so all in all, probably 50 times ive cleaned my bay without taping anything, and had 1 problem (which i explained earlier)

 

Did you dry it out with an air compressor or did you use some electrical component aerosol spray moisture displacement? Not WD-40 because to me it is too oily.

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I see there is a hazardous material surcharge, do you recommend a respirator and rubber chemical resistant gloves when using the stuff? Also, in your before and after photos, how much elbow grease did it take to get it that clean? I guess I should start from the beginning. What items under the hood did you have to protect with plastic wrap, alumimum foil or a Walmart bag and duct tape? I assume it took more than spraying on a dilution of Red Devil and rinsing it off. I used to use a toilet bowl cleaning tool, that had a string mop like end on my show Carmaro but I was dealing with semi-gloss black not body color paint and huge engine bay. Your engine compartment looks like it has been carnuba'd!

 

Also, since the stuff seems to be real potent what kind of items should it not come in contact with, like soft plastic and rubber parts, will it dissolve anything in the engine compartment?

 

No harm to anything in engine compartment what so ever. No I protect nothing, and in the massive amounts of engines I have cleaned (was detailing as well) Never had a issue, besides the occasional wet distributor cap. If you get it wet remove with 8 MM socket,, and lightly spray WD-40 in cap to dissipate the water. As far as elbow grease I am a lazy MOFO so very little! :D Only place I use a brush is on fender jams, and underside of hood. If your engine is real bad I suggest doing it the first time real heavy let set maybe wash the rest of car then hit engine, then do a second time.

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No harm to anything in engine compartment what so ever. No I protect nothing, and in the massive amounts of engines I have cleaned (was detailing as well) Never had a issue, besides the occasional wet distributor cap. If you get it wet remove with 8 MM socket,, and lightly spray WD-40 in cap to dissipate the water. As far as elbow grease I am a lazy MOFO so very little! :D Only place I use a brush is on fender jams, and underside of hood. If your engine is real bad I suggest doing it the first time real heavy let set maybe wash the rest of car then hit engine, then do a second time.

 

Yeh, I read that in the early post about it not harming paint, etc. but I could not believe my eyes. I thought maybe you photoshopped the dirt off. I would eat off your engine compartment or have surgery on it, it is so clean. I can't wait to get back home and try it. I love a clean engine compartment! Gee you must not drive around much in Idee Ho for it to stay that clean. How do you get the sagebrush rolling across I-84 out from under the fender wells, set it on fire?

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Yeh, I read that in the early post about it not harming paint, etc. but I could not believe my eyes. I thought maybe you photoshopped the dirt off. I would eat off your engine compartment or have surgery on it, it is so clean. I can't wait to get back home and try it. I love a clean engine compartment! Gee you must not drive around much in Idee Ho for it to stay that clean. How do you get the sagebrush rolling across I-84 out from under the fender wells, set it on fire?

I have gotten the straight chemical on my hands and it burns a little but not that badly. It is corrosive but only a little. Also I rinse engine compartment with spotfree rinse at carwash every time I wash car. Most of what collects in fender jams and around core support is soap that never gets rinsed off, or hard water. So if you rinse around edges of engine compartment it will stay nice for long time. I charge $40.00 per engine compartment when I do them for people and it takes like 30 min to do them!8)

Edited by mpearce1974
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I have gotten the straight chemical on my hands and it burns a little but not that badly. It is corrosive but only a little. Also I rinse engine compartment with spotfree rinse at carwash every time I wash car. Most of what collects in fender jams and around core support is soap that never gets rinsed off, or hard water. So if you rinse around edges of engine compartment it will stay nice for long time. I charge $40.00 per engine compartment when I do them for people and it takes like 30 min to do them!8)

 

It may be worth the drive to Boise. I would admit my stupidity to reveal that I paid a pro detail shop the going rate here of $200.00 to do what you do for $40.00. We have real hard water in Vancouver so maybe I will hook up a long hose to the compressor to get it as dry as I can get it. It only takes one time to leave a permanent spot. You should see the cars at the car dealers who hire illegals to wash their cars but not dry them off..they are ruined.

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It may be worth the drive to Boise. I would admit my stupidity to reveal that I paid a pro detail shop the going rate here of $200.00 to do what you do for $40.00. We have real hard water in Vancouver so maybe I will hook up a long hose to the compressor to get it as dry as I can get it. It only takes one time to leave a permanent spot. You should see the cars at the car dealers who hire illegals to wash their cars but not dry them off..they are ruined.

 

Well $40.00 is more than I would even want to pay, because I am a cheap bastard! :laugh: However I figure $40.00 is ok, and really if you broke it down I would use say $3 dollars at carwash, and say $1.50 if that in chemical!8)

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Well $40.00 is more than I would even want to pay, because I am a cheap bastard! :laugh: However I figure $40.00 is ok, and really if you broke it down I would use say $3 dollars at carwash, and say $1.50 if that in chemical!8)

 

Well friend that is not how to get rich, but it is great you are not out to screw customers. I spent enough time in the corporate world as a cost analyst to see what customers who pay for your services would most likely be charged the cost of a gallon of Red Devil with each cleaning. The labor cost at $80.00 an hour at the car wash which these days is the low car shop standard hourly charge for service, then all other residual costs like electricity to operate your business, phone calls, I don't have to tell you, even rags and replacing rags as well as washing them is all calculated in the cost. So you may be cheap but there are those willing to pay more than you charge for your services. I would hazard a guess that a local auto retailer would be more than happy to pay you your prices to detail the trade ins they receive.

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Dude thats like 10% of them!:D

Costs me like $12.00 a gallon and it makes 2 gallons 50\50 with water. If you give them your contact info. they will have a rep in your area get ahold of you.

 

Its the top one Red Devil

 

Best stuff you can buy!

 

I managed to order it from American Chemical and Equipment Company with no apparent problem. At least it processed my order unlike the other sites:

 

http://www.americanchemical.net/c81/-RED-DEVIL-DEGREASER-1-Gallon-p374.html

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  • 1 month later...

So I figured I'd add my own pix up of my engine bay where I used Mpearce's technique with the red devil degreaser. I'm happy, it'd look just as good as his bays imo if I didn't have some rust areas.

 

Before:

39511_10150237831570615_679770614_13721711_594683_n.jpg

38596_10150237832635615_679770614_13721720_1552611_n.jpg

37777_10150237833450615_679770614_13721726_2279783_n.jpg

 

After:..obviously

38382_10150237833680615_679770614_13721730_4637184_n.jpg

38306_10150237832970615_679770614_13721721_3145979_n.jpg

 

And my fav. of the hood. The decals didn't get removed. There's just a lot of glare from the sun..you can eve see the reflection of the rad support etc. in the hood.

37861_10150237832245615_679770614_13721716_6627169_n.jpg

 

 

I just sprayed down everything with a 1:1 solution of the degreaser. Let it sit for aprx. 5-10 minutes while I hooked up my pressure washer. Then went to town spraying it all down..I did two applications though just for the hell of it..Also before I even rinsed it off, the grease on the hood had already melted was running down to the window.. I had to do ZERO brush work as well.

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Well now I am no longer special now! :blush:

 

Looks great my friend! I told you it was THE BEST sh!t on earth!!:wub:

 

Definitely is! I'm positive that I'll be purchasing more of it in the near future. Maybe I'll start doing engine bays locally for a few bucks lol.

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Definitely is! I'm positive that I'll be purchasing more of it in the near future. Maybe I'll start doing engine bays locally for a few bucks lol.

 

I charge $40 a piece and when I run my ad on CL I get about 5 responses and 3 out of those 5 get them done!

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