Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

After the recent Skidpan day my entire engine bay is covered in just... crap basically, and since my radiator went on the weekend I wanna also get rid of any coolant stains that may be on the belts.

Are the engine bay cleaners at places like Carlovers any good? I certainly dont want to do it with elbow grease cause it would take for ever?

Covering the air filter and AFM is a good idea, any other sensitive electrics that need covering up?

Thanks

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/29921-engine-bay-clean/
Share on other sites

covering electrics is optional as long as you leave the bonnet open for a good few hours afterwards to dry out fully. There isn't too much that water can do to get in, unless you just stand there in the same spot with the hose.

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/29921-engine-bay-clean/#findComment-610629
Share on other sites

im a car detailer... just take it to car lovers use the degreaser provided aswell as 1 can of $2 stuff for grimy areas and leave for a few mins the just attack it with the hi pressure soap for a sec which neutralises the de greaser then rince it well with water making sure to get it all off..... dont cover electrics at all and dont worry about leaving bonnet open just take it for a 15 min drive afterwards and that will disipate all the water enough.... just watch the degreaser on the paintwork on the outside of the car cause it will mark it if left on (the engine bay paint doesnt really matter cause it is a matt finish most times anyway) if you do mark the paint just attack it with a cream polish till its gone.... if you have any other detailing woes feel free to ask me cause ive done it for years....

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/29921-engine-bay-clean/#findComment-610634
Share on other sites

I have been cleaning mine gradually since the skidpan day. Made quite a mess. I have alway been hesitant to hose under the bonnet with all the electrics and all, but it doesn't sound too bad, but wait the disclaimer.

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/29921-engine-bay-clean/#findComment-610715
Share on other sites

If you can get your hands on a product called Shift-It made by Kenco, I think this stuff is magic. the only things in your engine bay to be careful of are the pod filter if fitted, and the alarm siren, Happy cleaning! :P

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/29921-engine-bay-clean/#findComment-610795
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
im a car detailer... just take it to car lovers use the degreaser provided aswell as 1 can of $2 stuff for grimy areas and leave for a few mins the just attack it with the hi pressure soap for a sec which neutralises the de greaser then rince it well with water making sure to get it all off..... dont cover electrics at all and dont worry about leaving bonnet open just take it for a 15 min drive afterwards and that will disipate all the water enough.... just watch the degreaser on the paintwork on the outside of the car cause it will mark it if left on (the engine bay paint doesnt really matter cause it is a matt finish most times anyway) if you do mark the paint just attack it with a cream polish till its gone.... if you have any other detailing woes feel free to ask me cause ive done it for years....

what about steam cleaning the engine bay?

i was told if i steam cleaned it all the hoses and wires would become brittle and start to crack and squeek after a few months. Is this true?

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/29921-engine-bay-clean/#findComment-703929
Share on other sites

when i worked at toyota we steam cleaned every car like mad even the new ones so no harm can be done... the worst thing can be water in electrical connectors which cause an intermittant miss for a short time..... goes away after half hour driving...

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/29921-engine-bay-clean/#findComment-703941
Share on other sites

depends what it is that u wanna get off... if its the grimy grey stuff on the paint thats hard to shift... i have a chemical here i made that gets that off but if u wanna clean engine just go and buy a concentrated orange oil cleaner like made from citric acid etc thats usually good and mix it a little more powerfull than they reccomend but just watch the paint on the top of ur guards... what i do is wet the outside paint on guards bumper etc first then chemicals wont be so likely to attack the paint on contact....

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/29921-engine-bay-clean/#findComment-703953
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Even more fun, leave all the ADAS stuff plugged in, but in different locations, hopefully avoid any codes!   And honestly, all these new cars with their weird electronics. Pull all the electronics out Duncan, and just shove an aftermarket ECU and if needed a trans controller in, along with a PDM. Make it run basic but race car styled!
    • To follow up a question from earlier too since I had the front bar off again (fking!) This is what is between the bumper and the drivers side wheel And this is the navigator side, only one thing but its a biggy! So basically....no putting coolers in the wheel arches without a lot of moving other stuff. Assuming I move to properly race prepping this car I'll take that job on and see how the computers respond to removing a whole bunch of ADAS modules
    • So I prepped the car for another track day on Wednesday (will be interesting to see coolant temps post flushing out and the larger reservoir, with a forecast of 3-14 being 20o cooler than last time I took it out). Couple of things to mention; since I am just driving the car and not taking a support vehicle, I took the rear seats out and just loaded the back up Team Trackday style. Look at all that space! To cover off removing the rear seat....it is weird (note the hybrid is probably different because it wouldn't have folding rear seats) Basically, you remove the lower seat base, very similar to a r series but it is a clip that pulls forward to release the base rather than it being bolted down. Easy Then, you need to remove the side section of the rear seat on each side. There is a 14mm head nut at the bottom of the side piece, the it slides upwards off a hook at the top to release; you also need to unhook the seatbelt from the loop at the top. Then the centre piece is weird. You need to release/fold the seats forward with the tab in the boot on each side From there, there are 2,x12mm headed bolts holding the rear of each seat to the folding bracket, under the trim between the rear seat and the boot (4x christmas tree clips there, they suck). The seat is out but you can see where the bolts attach to the bracket
    • As discussed in the previous post, the bushes in the 110 needed replacing. I took this opportunity to replace the castor bushes, the front lower control arm, lower the car and get the alignment dialled in with new tyres. I took it down to Alignment Motorsports on the GC to get this work done and also get more out of the Shockworks as I felt like I wasn't getting the full use out of them.  To cut a very long story short, it ended up being the case the passenger side castor arm wouldn't accept the brand new bush as the sleeve had worn badly enough to the point you could push the new bush in by hand and completely through. Trying a pair of TRD bushes didn't fix the issue either (I had originally gone with Hardrace bushes). We needed to urgently source another castor arm, and thankfully this was sourced and the guys at the shop worked on my car until 7pm on a Saturday to get everything done. The car rides a lot nicer now with the suspension dialled in properly. Lowered the car a little as well to suit the lower profile front tyres, and just bring the car down generally. Eternally thankful for the guys down at the shop to get the car sorted, we both pulled big favours from our contacts to get it done on the Saturday.  Also plugged in the new Stedi foglights into the S15, and even from a quick test in the garage I'm keen to see how they look out on the road. I had some concerns about the length of the LED body and whether it'd fit in the foglight housing but it's fine.  I've got a small window coming up next month where I'll likely get a little paint work done on the 110 to remove the rear wing, add a boot wing and roof wing, get the side skirt fixed up and colour match the little panel on the tail lights so that I can install some badges that I've kept in storage. I'm also tempted to put in a new pair of headlights on the 110.  Until then, here's some more pictures from Easter this year. 
    • I would put a fuel pressure gauge between the filter and the fuel rail, see if it's maintaining good fuel pressure at idle going up to the point when it stalls. Do you see any strange behavior in commanded fuel leading up to the point when it stalls? You might have to start going through the service manual and doing a long list of sensor tests if it's not the fuel system for whatever reason.
×
×
  • Create New...