Clean Your Engine Bay

If your dirty, greasy engine bay is making you cringe, you can easily clean it with a few simple steps. To avoid costly repairs, make sure to clean the engine bay once the vehicle has cooled down, and be sure to disconnect the battery and cover all electrical parts with plastic before beginning. With a little time and effort, your engine bay will be gleaming!

Steps

Prepping the Engine

1. Gather your supplies and put on protective gear. Wear gloves to protect your hands and put on a mask and eye protection to ensure no chemicals, grease, or dirt get into your eyes or mouth. You'll need a wrench to remove the battery cables, a shop vacuum, compressor, or leaf blower, paint brushes in various sizes, metal wire brushes, a water hose, degreaser, and microfiber towels.
2. Let the car cool down. Spraying a hot engine with cold water can crack and warp it, leading to costly repairs. Plus, a hot engine will instantly dry the cleaner, creating spots on the engine. The best time to clean your engine bay is in the morning since the car has cooled overnight. If that's not possible, let the car cool down for at least a few hours before you begin cleaning the engine bay.
3. Tighten all caps and dipsticks. Make sure all liquid reservoir caps, for your brake fluid, coolant, and power steering fluid, are tightly sealed. Press all dipsticks down to ensure they are sealed too, as you don't want to get water in your oil reservoir due to a loose oil dipstick, for instance.
4. Disconnect the battery and cover electrical parts with plastic. First, disconnect both battery terminals. If possible, remove the battery completely so you can easily clean the area. Then, cover spark plugs, the alternator, coil packs, the distributor cap, and all filters with plastic and use electrical tape to create a tight seal. These parts should not get wet, so don't skip this step!

Removing Grease and Grime

1. Agitate surface dust with a brush and vacuum it up. Use a paint brush to loosen surface dust, then vacuum it up with a shop vacuum. You may want a few different size brushes to help you reach into all the nooks and crannies. If you don't have a shop vacuum, you can blow the dirt and dust away with a leaf blower. Go over the entire engine with the brushes and vacuum.
2. Scrub aluminum parts with a metal wire brush. The intake sits at the top of the engine and is usually made from aluminum, which can get stained and pitted. Rub a metal wire brush over the entire intake and any other aluminum parts, like lettering plates, to clean them. Be careful not to rub any hoses or sensors with the metal wire brush.
   • Alternatively, you could use a rotating wire wheel to clean aluminum parts.
3. Wet the engine bay with a weak stream of warm water. Spray the engine bay with a weak stream of warm water before applying any cleaner to remove loose dirt and grime. Avoid spraying the covered electrical parts. Rinsing the bay first helps the cleaner to spread evenly and reduces spotting. Make sure you don't use cold water, which could crack the block.
4. Spray diluted degreaser and let it soak for 5 to 10 minutes. Diluting the cleaner or degreaser provides you with a more even clean. Use 1 part water and 1 part cleaner. Spray the entire engine bay except for the covered electrical parts. Pay special attention to the firewall, fluid containers, hoses, and caps, which tend to build up grime.
   • Products like Simple Green and Purple Power Degreaser work well for detailing engine bays.
5. Rinse away the degreaser with a weak stream of warm water. You don't want to use a high-pressure sprayer, or water may be forced into places it shouldn't go. Use a weak stream of warm water to rinse the grease and grime off the engine.
   • If the engine bay still looks pretty dirty, spray more diluted degreaser, let it soak for 5 to 10 minutes, then rinse it away.

Finishing Up

1. Use a microfiber towel to wipe down the engine bay. Once you are finished rinsing, you'll need to remove excess water from the engine bay. Wipe down the entire engine bay, switching to a fresh microfiber towel when the one you're using gets too wet or dirty. Use a towel to clean any spots you missed with the degreaser.
2. Suck up water from crevices, then remove the plastic covering. Use a leaf blower, compressor, or shop vacuum to suck up or blow out the water from small crevices. Now that you've gotten most of the engine dry, you can remove the electrical tape and plastic from the covered parts. Dispose of both the plastic and the tape.
3. Replace or reconnect the battery when the engine bay is completely dry. Though you've absorbed most of the water, you should let the vehicle sit, with the hood up, for an hour or so to let things completely dry out. Then, replace or reconnect the battery.
4. Start the car and let it run until it reaches normal operating temperature. Once the engine is completely dry, you can start the car. Let it run until it reaches normal operating temperature, then shut it off. At this point you are free to drive your vehicle as you normally would.

Tips

• You might consider Paint-an-Engine-Bay if you want your car to look even better with the hood up.

Things You'll Need

• Gloves
• Mask
• Eye protection
• Wrench (to remove battery cables)
• Plastic bags or sheeting
• Electrical tape
• Paintbrushes or toothbrushes
• Shop vacuum, compressor, or leaf blower
• Metal wire brushes
• Water hose
• Degreaser
• Microfiber towels

Quick Summary

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