How to quickly detail your engine bay

[Todd@RUPES]

Forward: Detailing your engine bay and keeping it clean not only makes working on your engine easier but it shows a sense of pride of ownership. Modern engines are fairly easy to clean and detail, but keep in mind that you will using liquids and water around electrical equipment. Modern cars are sealed very well from the factory, but you should protect equipment such as the ECU or the Alternator. If you don`t know what these are or what they look like, then you shouldn`t detail your engine.

Products Needed.

-A quality degreaser such as Eimann Fabrik`s VOC Engine Degreaser or Meguiars Super Degreaser

-A couple of brushes (I use old paint brushes)

-Running water

-Towels

-Your favorite dressing such as Meguiars Natural Shine, Meguiars Hyperdressing, or 1Z`s Vinyl-Rubber Care and Protectant

1) The engine can be warm or cool to the touch, although warmer temperatures will help break down grease and grime. However you do NOTwant to spray cool water on a hot engine!

2) Use aluminum foil and wrap it around sensitive electrical equipment such as alternator or the ECU. Do NOT use aluminum foil on the battery as you could bridge the terminals.

3) Where gloves and eye protection to protect against any caustic chemicals. You do NOT want engine degreaser ending up in your eye`s!

4) Spray a liberal amount of engine degreaser on all areas that need to be cleaned and allow to dwell for 30 seconds.

5) Agitate the degreaser into a lather using a soft brush to help facilitate the removal of stubborn grease and grit.

6) Rinse throughly using flowing water. Avoid spraying water with pressure on to sensitive equipment, but rather work around them. Rinse all solution off the engine, fire wall, and inner fenders.

7) Dry the engine as much as possible. If you have a high speed electric leaf blower use it remove as much standing water as possible from all the various nooks and crannies. If you have a wet vac you can use this to such water out of tight areas. If you have neither use a towel to soak up as much as possible.

8) Close engine bay and start engine. Allow to run up to normal operating temperature for at least 5 minutes.

9) After engine dries, apply your favorite dressing to the hoses and plastics, and enjoy!

In pictures:

My mother`s Hyundai was in desperate need of having its engine detailed. A perfect demo car in need of some love!







I sprayed the engine compartment down with a liberal coat of Eimann Fabrik`s VOC Engine Degreaser. The degreaser immediately began to loosen the grease and grime.



Very dirty areas require agitation with a soft brush.



The underside of the hood was very dirty as well, and in need of a little cleaning.



After flushing the engine bay throughly with water, little areas of grime might remain. This is a perfect time, if you desire, to get out a q-tip and clean any spots up.



Remove as much standing water as possible, then close the engine and allow it to run up to operation temperature to facilitate drying. After it cools down, apply your favorite dressing and enjoy! I used 1Z Rubber-Vinyl Care `Tienfienpfleger`

[bigmikela]

Very nice job on the engine. Thank you for the instructions and pictures. For myself being new to detailing, this is valuable information.

Mike

[imported_gewb]

Nice pearl white Sonata, great cleanup!

Couple suggestions for your next Sonata engine detail:

> Plug the air intake with a rag before cleaning.
> Tape opened garbage bags over windshield and the black cowling at the bottom - keeps cleaners from overspray during wash and rinse.
> You can clean the black hood liner with a spray of APC and scrub lightly with a scrub brush - just hose off when done (do this FIRST as it will drip into the engine compartment).
> Be carefull with the ends of the foam gasket that goes across the back (top of firewall) as it is attached with a double sided tape - it comes off easily and will never stick back down once it comes off (don`t ask how I know).

Regards,
GEWB
("Nelly" is my `07 Pearl White 2.4L Sonata)

[gmblack3]

Nice and simple. :notworthy:

[Altimazzz]

Simple-looks good.. I mixed some of my Lexol Vinylex 50/50 with water, just to see how it works. Turned out very nice..

[imported_Luster]

Thanks for the write-up Todd! Very nice...

Sounds like the "Luster-Method" (j/k) Haha!:w00t:

[Old Pirate]

You now can do mine, if you may.

[imported_Luster]

Hey Todd... I`ve been using your method lately! The paintbrush works great for tiny areas such as hinges and jambs!:thumbup:

[John M.]

This is great! Really helps me out! May I ask though, what about when doing older cars? I have a couple of guys in my town with some old classic cars that Im trying to get as customers, would I need to treat their engines differently? Or when it is a show engine and lots of chrome?

Oh and one more, do you treat the painted areas you dont see normally with anything? After the detail that is, like a cleaner wax?

[imported_Luster]

This is great! Really helps me out! May I ask though, what about when doing older cars? I have a couple of guys in my town with some old classic cars that Im trying to get as customers, would I need to treat their engines differently? Or when it is a show engine and lots of chrome?

Oh and one more, do you treat the painted areas you dont see normally with anything? After the detail that is, like a cleaner wax?

With really dirty, greasy older engines I like to use Gunk Foaming Engine Cleaner.

Most restored classic cars have pretty clean engine bays so I still use Todd`s method on them.

I don`t put anything on the underhood painted areas, just clean and wipe dry.

[Todd@RUPES]

This is great! Really helps me out! May I ask though, what about when doing older cars? I have a couple of guys in my town with some old classic cars that Im trying to get as customers, would I need to treat their engines differently? Or when it is a show engine and lots of chrome?

Oh and one more, do you treat the painted areas you dont see normally with anything? After the detail that is, like a cleaner wax?

Great questions John, let me take them one at a time (so I don`t miss anything).

May I ask though, what about when doing older cars?

Doing older cars does repesent some more challanges (depending on the goals of the detail and specific car). In general you will want to be very careful spraying water in the engine compartment as some of the seals and electrical components may have aged or where not that great to begin with. You may choose to avoid running water all together, and instead use something like Meguiars All-Purpose Cleaner and a damp cloth to wipe everything down. Then follow with a second damp cloth and finally a dry cloth.

Or when it is a show engine and lots of chrome?

The good news is that show engines should be pretty clean to begin. Usually using the above method will work. The majority of the time will be spent cleaning the metal parts and waxing the painted parts. You can spend days in an engine bay if the level of detail demands it.

On this Ferrari Boxer BBi, I spent almost a full day on the engine compartment.

Oh and one more, do you treat the painted areas you dont see normally with anything? After the detail that is, like a cleaner wax?

In general yes as it will clean the negelected paint, increase the gloss, and protect it. If it is a concours level detail and my clients want better, I am may machine polish (if I can) the paint, seal, it and wax it. Depends on the goals and the level of the detail.

[RustyBumper]

Hello, amigos. This is a great thread. Thanks for starting this topic, Todd. I used some of the advice I learned from here to work on my engine bay last week and it turned out fairly nice. :thumbup:

I`ve got a question for you guys. I think I may have gotten in over my head because I asked a friend of mine if I could detail his GMC Envoy to gain more experience and he said yes. Because of his work, he often has to drive to rural areas where there are only dirt roads. I think it`s pretty safe to assume that the engine bay is going to be pretty dirty, because of this.
I can`t clean the engine here at my house because I`m pretty sure that it would stain the driveway. If it does, I know that my landlord won`t be happy about that. He doesn`t share my enthusiasm for detailing. My only other option that I see is to go to a car wash and do it there. What do you guys suggest for working on a hot engine? I know to cover up everything as much as possible, but what else should I do or what other cautions should I take?

[imported_Luster]

I can`t clean the engine here at my house because I`m pretty sure that it would stain the driveway. If it does, I know that my landlord won`t be happy about that. He doesn`t share my enthusiasm for detailing. My only other option that I see is to go to a car wash and do it there. What do you guys suggest for working on a hot engine?

There are a lot of guys who pressure wash their engines at the car wash with good success. I use the "Todd" method because I don`t like water pressure in the engine bay and I don`t like working on hot engines.

What I do to prevent staining is to put down, on the driveway, a large flattened cardboard box with an old sheet over it. Then drive the vehicle over that and start cleaning.

What the sheet doesn`t soak up, the cardboard will.

If you do have a little spillage to clean up, use cat litter and grind it in with the sole of your shoe.

[RustyBumper]

Awesome!! Thank you, Bill. I`ve give that a try instead. That will save my a lot of time and some money as well. Hmmm...I wonder if my wife would notice a missing sheet?

[imported_Jokeman]

Ok, time for my lesson to Todd.....wrap the metal on your paint brushes with electrical tape to protect against accidentally scratching the paint under the hood.