How can i clean the engine?
 

My wfe surprised me for my birthday with a RX8. velocity red GT, red/black interior. Door sills, rotary accents, the girl knows how to pick 'em! (how she ended up with me is anybody's guess).

The problem:

The dealer she got it from sits on a road under construction. They did a half-a*s job of cleaning it up when they gave it to her.

Everything is clean but when you lift the hood, it is covered in dirt from all the dirt piles around the dealer. Of course everyone who sees the car wants to see the engine.

What it is the best way to clean it up? Is it safe to remove the black cover and blast it out with a hose?

The manual said to never get the engine wet. Nice of their lawyers to incude that. but in reality, i would like to be able to clean it up.

any suggestions greatly appreciated.

greese

I doubt spraying the engine with a hose is going to hurt anything, just be careful to keep the water away from the electrical connections. Beyond that, a bit of simple green and some elbow grease will get it looking nice and new.

man thats a nice wife. does she have a sister? ;)

Two of them but only one that is single. But trust me, I got the good one!

Take the car back to the dealer and make them clean it.

Yeah I know that is the proper way to go about it. I figure i am going to want to do this every so often myself anyway so I may as well find out the preferred way to do it.

This is how some of the Garage guys do it:

- Start up the engine
- use a low pressure hose to just wash away some of the dirt off the top
- use a cloth to clean out all the visible areas and be carefull not to get caught by the moving drive belts
- Spray any metal area with WD-40
- let dry for 5 to 10 mins.
- close the hood and drive it around for 10 mins before shutting off the engine.

what about compressed air in a can to blast out some of the dust in the nooks, then wiping down the rest with a wet rag- I'd be scared to hose down a brand new engine bay.

One note, its good to warm up the engine a bit but don't get it too hot. There's nothing quite like hitting extremely hot metal with a blast of ice cold water :-(

Castro Super Clean is supposed to do a decent job on built-up gunk. Simple Green as well, although it eats aluminum so make sure you get it off. There's some motorcycle cleaner that a few people I know swear by but I can't remember the name.

jds

i ended up leaving the black cover in place. wetting it down with the "shower" setting on the nozzle. I diluted some simple green ina bucket with water. About three or four ounces in a 2 gallon bucket.

I used that to brush things gently with a soft brush i have. Then i rinsed it off and used a towel to dry it off and catch the spots that got missed or needed more attention.

It looks great and started right up so hopefully i didn't hurt anything.

greese

i have the same problem
 

Buut i live by the beach so theres alot of sand build up. I tried getting it off but it seems like its engraved into the paint?? i Dont know what to do.

I use simple green on the plastic covers under the hood to keep them looking new

Re: i have the same problem
 

I am near the beach but not so close that i have to worry about that. I'll trade a little sand and salt air for the snow and crap the others have to put up with. Road salt. Snow tires. Gravel. No thanks.

greese

On all of the cars I've owned I've always just sprayed the entire engine bay down with a mild detergent/water mixture......let it sit for a while.....and then blast the hell out of it with my pressure washer. Let it sit for a while to "drain", start the engine, go for about a 15 minute drive at highway speeds to dry things up good, and then come back and spray some engine detailer on it (avoiding the belts).

I have never had any problems with anything using this method. I'm sure it would be best to avoid getting electical connectors and the alternator soaking wet, but it is next to impossible to avoid. There are just too many electrical connectors everywhere. Now with the 8...and the ECU being located in such a dumb ass place.....I might have to be a little more cautious.

I would either take it back to the dealer and make them re-clean it or you could find a detail shop and get the engine detailed for like 25 bucks or so. They will use a steam cleaner and get it looking spotless.

She gave you a car with a dirty engine? WTF? Dump her, man! :)

Engine clean
 

After I clean my engine I spray all the hoses and plastic down with Son of a Gun. wait a few minutes and then wipe it down. Keeps everything looking brand new.

Nat