engine wash..

[bmwrp8]

Just changed my valve cover gasket and my engine was soo dirty with oil that leaked in the valve cover. Decided to wash it and covered up the vital parts of the engine, now its clean what do you guys put in your engine after cleaning it?I mean in the rubber and plastic parts so its not that dull looking and shines a bit. Was thinking armour all but i want to hear your opinions or what you usually put. thanks.Some Pics. would be nice also:D

[Bin_jammin]

Just changed my valve cover gasket and my engine was soo dirty with oil that leaked in the valve cover. Decided to wash it and covered up the vital parts of the engine, now its clean what do you guys put in your engine after cleaning it?I mean in the rubber and plastic parts so its not that dull looking and shines a bit. Was thinking armour all but i want to hear your opinions or what you usually put. thanks.Some Pics. would be nice also:D


For washing an engine I usually use either Gunk's Foamy Engine Brite or Purple Power, I've got both in the detail bay here. The Gunk is for the cars that are just ridiculously filthy with oil and sludge (yes, on the outside of the engine) that end up getting power washed. Yeah, everyone's got an opinion on power washing, I've been doing it for years and years and never had a problem. The Purple Power works awesome for average road crap under the hood. It'll knock loose 90% of all dirt and crap on 90% of the cars out there. Hit it with the PP, let it soak for a few minutes, wash off with normal hose. Let dry, re-apply as necessary.

[bsell]

For washing an engine I usually use either Gunk's Foamy Engine Brite or Purple Power, I've got both in the detail bay here. The Gunk is for the cars that are just ridiculously filthy with oil and sludge (yes, on the outside of the engine) that end up getting power washed. Yeah, everyone's got an opinion on power washing, I've been doing it for years and years and never had a problem. The Purple Power works awesome for average road crap under the hood. It'll knock loose 90% of all dirt and crap on 90% of the cars out there. Hit it with the PP, let it soak for a few minutes, wash off with normal hose. Let dry, re-apply as necessary.

Does the PP leave the rubbery bits shiny?

I am not much of an Armour All fan as I've seen it crack older dashes. Plus I'd forgotten about the fresh, very slick, Armour All job I'd done on the tires and dove full steam into a corner. I almost trashed the 5.0 mustang on that little bit of forgetfullness. Needless to say, I paid more attention to how much slickum went on the tires in the future!:D

Brian

[bmwrp8]

Does the PP leave the rubbery bits shiny?

I am not much of an Armour All fan as I've seen it crack older dashes. Plus I'd forgotten about the fresh, very slick, Armour All job I'd done on the tires and dove full steam into a corner. I almost trashed the 5.0 mustang on that little bit of forgetfullness. Needless to say, I paid more attention to how much slickum went on the tires in the future!:D

Brian

thats my main concern also about armour all might make the hoses and plastic parts brittle. what about WD40? would it make it brittle also?

[Bin_jammin]

Does the PP leave the rubbery bits shiny?

I am not much of an Armour All fan as I've seen it crack older dashes. Plus I'd forgotten about the fresh, very slick, Armour All job I'd done on the tires and dove full steam into a corner. I almost trashed the 5.0 mustang on that little bit of forgetfullness. Needless to say, I paid more attention to how much slickum went on the tires in the future!:D

Brian


No, Purple Power is a solvent. If you leave it on your skin it will give you a chemical burn, but I've never seen it hurt anything under the hood of a car. I AM worried about using it on my own car, as I have a spraypainted intake and valve cover, so I guess I could try it and give you an update, but everything under my hood has been sandblasted and painted. I really don't need to use a full concentration. PP will not leave a residue, in fact it leaves nothing behind at all, just the natural finish and color of whatever it is you're cleaning. The nice thing is that if you've got aluminum with oil stains on it it will remove the stains and leave a nice aluminum color behind. It really works wonders.

[632 Regal]

I use to use armourall but I found that that bumper black for plastic trim and stuff seems to last a lot longer and not attract dust at all. It works on hoses too, I also used WD-40 before without any probs but it would get dusty.

[CharlesAFerg]

Theres a few ways, but the most effective for our daily drivers is...
303 aerospace.
Don't use armor-all, it won't last long and won't look even remotely clean. Just makes it horrendously greasy, uneven, and collect too much dust.

Trust me, I'm the detailer.

Oh, and as 632 regal said, that back to black is good as well, but it won't last quite as long as 303. Just stay in the water-based category, armor-all is definitely not one of those. :p

[632 Regal]

303 aerospace huh... must find

[BuckNaked]

I went the Armorall route. It's a fantastic solvent. I used a stiff bristle brush to get the loose stuff off, then I saturated the hell out of everything except the computer bits and the belt.
I wiped off the excess with a rag then saturated it again and let set overnite.
The next day I wiped off the goo that the Armorall had dissolved and soaked everything one last time and wiped up the excess.

[632 Regal]

your brake fluid looks low.


looks awesome!

[shanek]

I second the 303. A little goes a long way. I have been using it for years. Works great on any plastic or rubber.

[bmwrp8]

No, Purple Power is a solvent. If you leave it on your skin it will give you a chemical burn, but I've never seen it hurt anything under the hood of a car. I AM worried about using it on my own car, as I have a spraypainted intake and valve cover, so I guess I could try it and give you an update, but everything under my hood has been sandblasted and painted. I really don't need to use a full concentration. PP will not leave a residue, in fact it leaves nothing behind at all, just the natural finish and color of whatever it is you're cleaning. The nice thing is that if you've got aluminum with oil stains on it it will remove the stains and leave a nice aluminum color behind. It really works wonders.

thats what i need. I'll try to look for PP here if i cud find one. I used laundry soap with diesel to clean my engine.

[attack eagle]

hmm I might have to give the 303 a try then.

I usually just clean them with 30/70 simple green & water mix and leave it like that.