MartyGrant said:
Anthony,
When you use the APC I imagine you spray it everywhere, agitate areas with your brushes and then lightly rinse with water. Correct or not? Do you cover electrial connectors, especially on older cars where snap fittings are old and baked? Thanks for the post. Water and cleaners getting into the snap fittings and wires has always been something I "worry" about. I guess I would really rather see you using these products and learn that way, but....what is the reality of using cleaners in the engine compartment?
Marty.
Sure thing. Start with a slightly WARM engine, not too hot as to where the cleaner just evaporates, but rather just let the engine idle for a few moments.
I am using a water based APC mixed on the low strength side because the engine was not all that bad. So you may need to mix a hotter solution if your engine is caked with grime.
On older engines you may need to cover sensitive electrical parts like plugs and their wires, distributor cap, etc. Usually a plastic baggie secured with a rubber band works great. On many newer models the engine is encased in plastic. On this particular engine I covered nothing.
I first rinse down the outer sections of the car, mainly fenders, so that the cleaner does not have undiluted contact on the surrounding paint. Start spraying the cleaner in the lower sections of the engine first, allow it to dwell for a few minutes then begin to agitate with your cleaning brushes.
This is where the EZ Detail Brush is just plain awesome. In the below pictures you can see just how well it gets deep down into all those trouble spots.
I clean and rinse as I move along. In the rinsing you do not need tons of water pressure, just enough water to rinse away the loosened grime.
I use a long sponge Qtip for the harder to reach areas.
I use a soft, flagged, brush to clean all the engine paint work. It also works great for engines like this that need only a light cleaning on the top surfaces.
After the final rinsing you can blow dry the engine with an electric leaf blower and/or an air compressor.
Then if you so desire you can polish up the metal components, like clamps, rings, metal A/C lines, etc. On this Mercedes engine I repositioned many of the clamps so that more of the ring is shown, like this-
I would then move the clamp screw head down so that it can still be reached but so that it is also out of eyesight and you can really only see the chrome ring. It is just more appealing this way BUT do make sure that you tighten the clamps well after you're done!
After this comes the dressing. I prefer a water based dressing, the one I used here is "Best Dressed". Very economical and can be used for various applications.
I spray the engine down thoroughly with the dressing, open the hood and allow it to soak in while I give my attentions to other areas. Come back later and then lightly buff the dressing out. Usually a water based dressing will dry to the touch and with a low sheen, which is what I prefer. A wet dressing will only attract more dirt and grime:nono
Add some wax/polish to the paint work, vacuum the firecloth material, clean up the underneath parts of the hood and you're done!
For all interested this is where I got the EZ Detail Brush
http://www.topoftheline.com/ezmotdetbrus.html
Thank you for the comments and I hope this helps some,
Anthony
