engine detailing

E

Envious Eric

New member
what are the environmental issues with this...I dont think that you can just wash the engine area and let the runoff grease and oil/water go everywhere...so, what do you do...
 
Just wash the engine area and let runoff grease oil/water go everywhere.:nixweiss



Unless you have a big container to catch all the dirty water, I don't think there is much you can do.
 
Man, you guys wouldn't last long around here. You have to contain whatever runs off from that engine cleaning. You also have to dispose of it properly. Vacuboom comes to mind.
 
I have detailed a few engines and unless you working with a real dirty engine most the times it just light dirt and dust which you clean off.



What ever oil or grease which comes off it's only very little, I cleaned underneath an engine few days ago and the main cleanup and problem was built up mud and not oil or grease.



Unless car has a bad oil leak then you have nothing to worry about.
 
Johnnie27 said:
Just wash the engine area and let runoff grease oil/water go everywhere.:nixweiss
Click to expand...

noooorb said:
Use a biodegradable cleaner
Click to expand...

kastanaras said:
Unless car has a bad oil leak then you have nothing to worry about.
Click to expand...



Wow. I hope at least one of these responses were sarcastic.





Without explaining the "why" I will inform you of one method. . .



Collect the waste off of a 4'x8' tarp with my Vacuboom and dispose of the grime in my buddy's oil/water separator. You can suck all the water you can off the ground but the thicker oil-based liquids are going to stick to the asphalt like glue. . . hence the tarp. It's a real pain in the rear, I typically farm the engine's out top the local volume shop. 75-80% of the 'bays I see throughout the week are so shielded in plastic "plating" that I can usually just go over it with a few Costco MF's.
 
I live in So. Cal. My truck's engine isn't filled with excess oil and grease, mostly dirt and dust. I sprayed my trucks engine bay with a degreaser of my choice and rinse with water. I'm sure there are way worse things, especially here in CA that are worse than my degreaser and dirt from my engine. When you wash your car, where does all the soap and dirt go? There's probably more dirt on your car than there is your engine (if you clean your engine on a regular basis). If you don't want to use degreaser you can use soap and water and scrub.
 
This is the professional forum. Obviously his question is asking how a professional addresses this issue. If you are cleaning many different engines on different cars, a lot of them will not just have dust. Heavy grease and oil flowing into storm drains is much more of a concern than soap, dust, and dirt coming off of your car. Fines can be heavy for this sort of thing
 
Well obviously there aren't many professionals giving their opinion so I decided to give mine. I didn't know you had to have a license to use this forum.
 
Johnnie27 said:
Well obviously there aren't many professionals giving their opinion so I decided to give mine. I didn't know you had to have a license to use this forum.
Click to expand...



Don't have to have a license but the information that you give out should be sound. I'm not saying that I know it all or anything like that but if I don't know for sure I'll either indicate that it's what I think or not post at all and wait for a proper answer.



Running water into the storm drain in CA(Orange County especially) can land you with huge fines and even jail time. Cleaning an engine(no matter how clean/dirty) and allowing the runoff to go into the storm drain system would much more than likely get you cited. Got an extra $10k laying around that you don't have any use for?
 
spoiled what you do is probably what I will end up doing...I will just explain to clients of environmental issues and what not, then send them on their way to another place, or take the car there if its close enough, then proceed to do the detail work...
 
I take my cars to clean my engine ONLY at do-it-yourself washes. Never once did I have a problem with a Manager.

they even have cleaners for tires and engines on there knobs.



I believe they have filters underground. I think.
 
toyotaguy said:
I have had the manager tell me to get out and not come back at one of the DIY washes...oops
Click to expand...





Really. I hardly ever see a person working there unless they are there to collect money. Most of them do have degreaser as an option. I would think that they'd have to meet regulations in order to use some of the products. I doubt there waste goes straight to the drain system.
 
I recently used a vegetable pump up sprayer to clean my engine. I only used about 1 gallon of water plus 1/4 bottle degreaser. It actually came out great. I'd imagine that you could place a bunch of old cheap bath/beach towells under the engine bay to catch all of the drippage.



I'm not sure what to do with the towells though.
 
I deal with it in my amateur/home shop the same way I did when I had the dealership: when I had the garage built I had them install a commercial-spec oil separator that my drains empty into. It has a big enough tank that I probably won't need to have it pumped out in my lifetime, but I could if necessary.



If you can't deal with the runoff, then don't create it; you can clean engine compartments with solvents and end up with a zillion greasy rags instead of runoff. But as backwoods_lex said, then you have the issue of what to do with the towels.



For people doing their own vehicles, this oughta be a very infrequent issue- you clean it once, fix any leaks, and it'll stay nice and clean. For pros, I'm surprised that the zoning/etc. code regs don't require the separators, that's how I first found out about them back in the '80s. I wouldn't even want shampoo going down a storm drain.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top