How safe is engine detailing?

Z

zimmerDN

New member
We are selling a 98 Dodge Avenger and it would be nice if we can clean up the engine before showing it to any potential buyers. However how risky is it to clean the engine? We don't want to end up with electrical problems just before we sell the car. I have never done any engine cleaning before. :p
 
Just let everything dry completely before you start the car again. If you have a shop vac, use the blower function to get the air out of the crevices.
 
Personally I don't think you'll get more $ just due to an engine detailing. But if you want cover the electrical parts with plastic bags or foil and have at it
 
a 98 should have no problems, spray it with a degreaser and just give it a quick spray with water - moving the hose quickly to avoid putting in too much water pressure into a single spot. Then add some vinyl/rubber protectant to the black parts. The engiine will look 200% better
 
az57chevy said:
Personally I don't think you'll get more $ just due to an engine detailing.
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I disagree 100%. A clean engine can be a huge psychological reassurance for somebody buying a used car, especially from a private individual. I mean, lots of people detail a car before they sell it, but a clean and dressed engine really shows attention to detail and implies a high level of care and maintenance.
 
guy1138 said:
I disagree 100%. A clean engine can be a huge psychological reassurance for somebody buying a used car, especially from a private individual. I mean, lots of people detail a car before they sell it, but a clean and dressed engine really shows attention to detail and implies a high level of care and maintenance.
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I agree. I never let my engine compartments get dirty and if I see a filthy one I know that nobody has bothered to take proper care of the vehicle. I know that "normal" people let 'em get nasty, but "normal people" neglect their cars' maintenance somethig awful. And how can you check for oil leaks/etc. if everythings dirty?



When I buy 9C1s I love getting ones from the Virginia State Police- the Virginia City maintenance garage keeps them *nice* under the hood. You can tell they didn't miss anything and that they took pride in servicing the vehicle right. I doubt that it's a coincidence that these cars, with >100K hard miles, always work fine.
 
I just did my engine couple days ago for the first time. I was rather paranoid before doing it, but after reading many posts and advices from people here, I decided to give it a try. Essentially, cover any part that has wire expose to it, or any part that you think it would be dangerous to have water get on it. then just use a water hose with very little water to rinse it. Though, make sure you spray degreaser before doing it. :)



Good lucik
 
If I were buying the car, I would feel better if it were clean under the hood. Doesnt have to be spotless, but working at a shop, I have seen some NASTY engine bays.





Accumulator said:
When I buy 9C1s I love getting ones from the Virginia State Police- the Virginia City maintenance garage keeps them *nice* under the hood. You can tell they didn't miss anything and that they took pride in servicing the vehicle right. I doubt that it's a coincidence that these cars, with >100K hard miles, always work fine.
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Do you take any measure to protect the Opti when detailing your 9C1s?
 
Way2SSlow said:
..Do you take any measure to protect the Opti when detailing your 9C1s?
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No, nothing beyond the obvious (i.e., don't blast it with water ;) ). But they never get all that dirty to where I have to do anything beyond a light cleaning. If I had to really do some serious cleaning I'd cover it with aluminum foil though. OTOH, I got things awfully wet when I did the Roadmaster wagon I used to have, but it didn't cause any problems. Probably just lucky though...
 
I don't know if this is true but a few days earlier someone posted that if you spray tire foam on your engine that it might foul the o2 sensor and I think that is what I did to my dads van. I washed his engine and spray Black Magic Tire Foam on it. It looked great but a few months later the check engine light came on and it was the o2 sensor. The car only had 45k on it at the time. So word of advice don't use a tire foam to dress your engine. PS, the tire foam attracted so much dust that it got nasty fast too. Also, what is a 9C1s may I ask?
 
accordmaniac said:
I don't know if this is true but a few days earlier someone posted that if you spray tire foam on your engine that it might foul the o2 sensor and I think that is what I did to my dads van. I washed his engine and spray Black Magic Tire Foam on it. It looked great but a few months later the check engine light came on and it was the o2 sensor. The car only had 45k on it at the time. So word of advice don't use a tire foam to dress your engine. PS, the tire foam attracted so much dust that it got nasty fast too. Also, what is a 9C1s may I ask?
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Aren't O2 sensors located near the cats? They tend to go bad anyway, so I wouldn't attribute tire foam to be the sole cause. Never hurts to spray the foam on a applicator and then wipe on surfaces.
 
Your air sensor would be more apt to go bad than the O2 sensor but anything is possible. Did you step up and admit it to Dad? Just curious what is reaction was.
 
I have brought my cars in before and powerwashed the engines to get them all nice and clean, and looking great! I have never had a problem, just make sure to use an air hose or something to spray the excess water off electrical components before starting it up. I have done this to my two acuras, and a 4runner. Never had and troubles, could be that I'm lucky, but i thought i would add my $.02.



ps- if you have a carburated engine, its COMPLETELY different, you do need to cover the carburator and of course the distributor cap.
 
Working at an used car lot, i have washed many engines. This is my take. I have air and a PW. I prefer a good old garden hose. I found that pressure would drive in water, maybe 10% of the time, with garden hose, less than 1%. If it is very oiled, then it might take a couple tries or some hand work, i do like the chemical i use, though.



Also i prefer, to not apply any dressing, i think it makes the vehicle look reconditioned. Where the goal should be to make it look well loved.
 
salty said:
Working at an used car lot, i have washed many engines. This is my take. I have air and a PW. I prefer a good old garden hose. I found that pressure would drive in water, maybe 10% of the time, with garden hose, less than 1%. If it is very oiled, then it might take a couple tries or some hand work, i do like the chemical i use, though.



Also i prefer, to not apply any dressing, i think it makes the vehicle look reconditioned. Where the goal should be to make it look well loved.
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That depends on the dressing. I use some stuff from S100 that I picked up at the harley shop; can't remember the exact name (will look in the garage later) but it is AWESOME stuff.
 
truzoom said:
Aren't O2 sensors located near the cats? They tend to go bad anyway, so I wouldn't attribute tire foam to be the sole cause. Never hurts to spray the foam on a applicator and then wipe on surfaces.
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If this is on a fuel injected engine, any oily substance/vapor that gets sucked into the air intake can coat the Mass Airflow Sensor element, which will throw off the computer, which will make the car run rich, which will eventually fry the 02 and then clog your cats. If you think this is what happened, you must clean the element on your MAF, or you will be replacing the 02s again in 6 months, and the cats in 18mos - 2 yrs.
 
Well, I just bought a car pretty cheaply because the guy detailed it under the hood, reducing it to a code throwing undrivable machine. Cool!



If you simply clean up under the hood, you'll likely be fine.



If you clean enthusiastically with a pressure washer, you've got a good chance of pushing soap and water into connectors and such, creating some interesting electrical problems.



And if you then spray silicone all over everything to make it look pretty, you short out all kinds of things, screw up sensors, creating quite a mess for yourself.



The least step is what the previous owner did, reducing the car to the code throwing undrivable state. Towed it home, cleaned it up, replaced a few sensors, and it was 90% better. Still not perfect, but what the heck.
 
foxtrapper said:
Well, I just bought a car pretty cheaply because the guy detailed it under the hood, reducing it to a code throwing undrivable machine. Cool!



If you simply clean up under the hood, you'll likely be fine.



If you clean enthusiastically with a pressure washer, you've got a good chance of pushing soap and water into connectors and such, creating some interesting electrical problems.



And if you then spray silicone all over everything to make it look pretty, you short out all kinds of things, screw up sensors, creating quite a mess for yourself.



The least step is what the previous owner did, reducing the car to the code throwing undrivable state. Towed it home, cleaned it up, replaced a few sensors, and it was 90% better. Still not perfect, but what the heck.
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This is why for the "cleaning" phase, I only use my steam shark :xyxthumbs
 
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