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MG MGB Technical - advice on cleaning engine area

I am looking for some good advice on cleanin up pretty much everything under the hood. Besides taking everything out and power washing the whole area does anyone have any advice?

THanks in advance,

Josh
Josh

Rent a steam cleaner and steam the whole engine compartment did it on my dodge turned out great but ran like crap for a day as there was water in all the electronics.
Ross

Covering the distributor, fusebox, and alternator in plastic avoids goofing up the electronics
with moisture.

You might also want to cover the caps on the brake and clutch master cylinder reservoirs, and stuff
rags in the aircleaner snorkels.
Daniel Wong

I use the coin-operated car wash to de-grime a grungy engine compartment (or undercarriage). As Daniel says, either try hard not to spray into the electric areas or cover them with plastic.

And don't wear your best clothes if you want to do a good job.
Matt Kulka

I got the engine bay on my cavalier cleaned before I sold it. I got a mechanic at a truck-depot to do it in exchange for a few beers. He sealed all the elctricals in plastic first. Cheaper than renting one!!
Chris Byham

you could always do it by hand?
Gunk is a good product along with a stiff brush then hose it down avoiding those always delicate electrics!
A silicone spray also brightens up all your coolant hoses and any other black stuff under the "hood"
S Munton

Call it crude, but this works.

I wash the whole engine compartment with paint thinner, applied with a small paint brush. Very little is needed and it dissolves the grease and grime easily and doesn't hurt the paint or plastic. For the carb area I spray carb cleaner, again using a paint brush to get into the crevices.

Then I wash everything (cover the electrics with plastic wrap) with sudsy water, using a small dust broom. I've found that soft brushes work better than sponges or rags. Rinse gently and viola! Clean.

Phil
Phil Collura

Before I bought my pressure washer, I used to take my cars to the coin-op car wash to clean the engine bays. The coin-op places have a setting that dispenses low pressure engine degreaser, but I usually didn't bother with that. I used a spray bottle of Simple Green cleaner and one of those pointed parts cleaning brushes with the stiff bristles. Plug all the ports and cover the distributor as mentioned above, then spray the Simple Green over everything. Use the brush to massage it into dirty areas, then use the high pressure setting to blast it clean. Simple Green smells better than Gunk and works just as well.

Cheers,
Paul Kile
Paul Kile

I second Paul's Simple Green recommendation. Have use a simple spray bottle for application and a garden hose to wash it off. Worked great on my A.

Larry
Lawrence Hallanger

Depending on how crudded up your engine compartment might be, you may also want to use a plastic putty knife (HomeDespot) and an old toothbrush to kick the clods of grease and filth away before following the advice above. The cheepo poly sandwich bags and a few rubber bands have always worked well to keep the water spray at bay.

When using a pressure washer, don't be too surprised if some paint gets blown off by the water. Using something like Simple Green, which rinses free and leaves no residue, allows you to touch up these small spots with a brush or air brush (if you have one) with some hope that your touch up will adhere and stay put the next time.
Bob Muenchausen

This thread was discussed on 21/03/2002

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