cleaning under your bonnet..help

**Yorkshiresxi** · Saturday 27th August 2011, 16:33

so come on chaps..
best way you lot clean that sexy 5 cylinder growler.
power washer, sprays, etc..want to do mine but you read some many storys about it going wrong...
in an ideal world i would just bag up the dizzy and coil..start her up..cover her in TFR ( traffic film remover ) then blast her with the jet on the hose pipe or maybe jet wash.
Your input needed please
ta

**merc85** · Saturday 27th August 2011, 19:40

Hi, I covered the engine ecu box, igntion coil and module, dizzy cap, and alternator.

I dont have the engine running, i used Jizzer degresser left on for 5 mins the Hose piped it all off, then clean and polish away.

**Flatout Phil** · Saturday 27th August 2011, 19:45

Tricky one this. I always think that cars can cope with more damp than we believe. Cars get all manner of moisture blasted in on the motorway in the rain - so a considered jetwash should be ok. But as you say avoid the electrical bits. On the odd occasion I have had bays jetted the engine has been left running. If I was doing it I would WD40 the electrics before and after and autosol the alloy parts. Then I would do the job on a warm dry morning and give the car a LONG run afterwards to really heat and dry all the nooks and crannies.
Use Jizer or Gunk or whatever modern equivalent is. I used to use a compressor to blast paraffin onto dismantled engines - which is incredibly explosive and not recommended :-0

**M-R-P** · Saturday 27th August 2011, 20:29

If it's just the bits you can see, use a small steel wire brush (I got a set of three from halfrauds - about 1 1/2" by 1/2", 1 plastic, one brass, one steel bristles) take the plastics off the head and give everything a good, dry, scrub then a blow-out with an airline (my bay is almost completely free of oil spray and runs so it was mainly fluffy white alloy corrosion - made it easier). What I used to bring everything - up was a grey silicone grease aerosol. Imagine copperslip spray but light grey and with a flashpoint of over 2000 degrees. This, applied with a rough cloth and the small plastic brush I got from halfrauds, brought my head and manifold up luurvely. I posted pics in the detailing section, yesterday. http://www.vpcuk.org/forums/showthread.php?t=37425
hope this is of some use.

**Wobbly Dave** · Monday 29th August 2011, 21:10

I use carlack degreaser http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/engine.../prod_354.html - this is really good for detailing under the bonnet. Rub it on - & rinse with ordinary hose pressure. this reduces the risk of forcing water into electrical parts. I dry it then & use aerospace 303 protectant to bring up the shine on the plastics. I use a standard metal cleaner - autoglymn to polish up the metallic parts.

The carlack is great for bringing up the grease splattered on the underside of the bonnet!

**Wobbly Dave** · Monday 29th August 2011, 21:16

Here is the 303

http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/interi.../prod_366.html

**Haizum74** · Tuesday 30th August 2011, 16:11

Slightly off topic but Wobblies thread title made me laugh when I saw it under the 'detailing' section on the forum lists.

**Wobbly Dave** · Tuesday 30th August 2011, 16:28

Which one is that?

**james** · Tuesday 30th August 2011, 17:40

i once left a full container of autoglym bumper care under the bonnet ontop of the inlet by accident and the next time i opened the bonnet the same day it was everywhere and the bottle was empty but after id wiped it all off the engine bay looked mint

**Haizum74** · Tuesday 30th August 2011, 21:00

Originally Posted by Wobbly Dave

Which one is that?

This one

**T5frankie** · Tuesday 30th August 2011, 23:45

i just clean it all with wd40 works a treat

**Ross63** · Tuesday 15th November 2011, 23:01

Originally Posted by t5frankie

i just clean it all with wd40 works a treat

Totally agree with this, I've used it on the swingarms and engine casings of my bikes for years. NOTHING removes oily deposits like WD40.

**Peanut1** · Friday 2nd December 2011, 20:56

Im a bit particular about the whole cleaning thing and tend to use Meguiars Super Degreaser. Spray it across the whole engine, soak the really bad bits and then grab a brush. Any will do really and just spend ages brushing everywhere to get it loose, reapply degreaser on bad bits. I then turn the engine on and immediately jet wash. I tend to stand back with it a bot so as not to completely blast the engine but give it a quick blast closer on the bad bits. Got to do mine soon so will post up picces etc

This was my A6 Avant i did last year
From this

To this

And defo 303 Aerospace is the dogs danglies!