Engine Pressure Wash

[GOOB]

I want to pressure wash my engine. Are there any areas(intake, etc) that I should "avoid" while doing this?

[CadiKing]

GooB,

Avoid all parts of your engine!

Power wash might open up a summers worth of wet gremlins

under your hood. If you do, DRY WELL.

jim

[JasonA]

When I wash under the hood on my car, I never use pressurized water, and in fact, I use as little water as possible. Instead of water pressure to clean, I use solvents and other cleansers. If you'd like, take the garden hose with a good nozzle on the end (mine has six or seven different settings, one of which is "shower") and I just shower or mist the entire engine/underhood area. Do this while the engine is COLD. This will get most of the loose dust/pollen/dirt gone and provide you with a good starting point.

I've never used any of the off-the-shelf engine cleansers. I just use elbow grease and some chemical persuasion in some difficult areas (like Windex or even Nevr Dull). I never put any "protectant" like Armor All on any of the underhood surfaces because I've found all this does is attract dust and pollen and it ends up making it messier. I clean everything very well, and leave it dry. I've found that Windex works great on the plastic surfaces and even the rubber hoses.

I've done that for years on all of my cars and they always look great. Good luck,

[rek]

Goob, I cleaned my engine as per the Jadcock method (no pressure wash). I dried it and started it. The thing stumbled and gave me a service light. The accordian type, blue rubber seals, on the connectors to the ignition module, were not doing their job. I DIDN'T blast the thing with water, but enough water splashed up there to fudge the ignition up. So, check the connector seals before you clean it, and make sure they're good, as in not folded over or smashed. A clean engine is a happy engine.

[GOOB]

Thanks guys,

I washed my old 91 seville with the 4.9 a few years ago and it didn't want to start afterwards. Just thought I would ask to be safe this time. Guess I can't be lazy on this one...have to use some good ole elbow grease.

[Flyer]

Washing with water is the best way to make bearing noise with your engine if you like that kind of stuff. I like the thought of a clean engine myself, but prefer healthy.

[Ranger]

I have used both garden hose and pressure washer and never had any problems. Go easy on or avoid the alternator and coils. Run it right afterwards to dry it out good. I gave mine a quickie with the garden hose a week or two ago as I was washing the car. The only problem I had (because I did not run it afterwards to heat it up and dry it out) was the next morning I got a Batt No Charge message. It went away just after I got out of the driveway.

[K2K]

Give that battery a good washing

[Ranger]

BTW, If it absolutely won't start afterwards (haven't had that problem since distributor days) spray the coils and wires with a drier like permatex "DLF" or something similar.

[CaddyChris]

Wash the engine with it RUNNING. Simply avoid the igntion module and don't blow by the sparkplugs too much. I use a pressure washer all under the hood and have never had problems.