Cleaning engine. What to cover in a 3rd Gen?

eric_rosenwald

eric_rosenwald

New member
I'm going to be using a few engine degreaser/cleaner products that I'll rinse out with water. What should I cover, and is masking tape ok for these purposes?
 
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I did this a few years back and placed a plastic bag (as best I could) over the alternator and another on the battery. Two things that water do not play nice with.

That's all I did and turned out ok for me.
 
I used a pressure washer with a fan sprayer over pretty much everything. Don't point it right at the firewall grommets, generally avoid the alternator - and otherwise just go for it... (assuming you don't have an open element air filter or something like that)

Others may disagree though, of course.

-Charlie
 
I just deep cleaned my engine bay and detailed it. I try to get everything as clean as I can without water first. Then spray cleaner down strategically (ie. avoid electrical, battery, etc.) and let it soak for a bit. I then hosed everything off (again strategically) and wiped down everything as best I could.

Results:

36981839902_76fb516074_b.jpg


36318321134_dd19eb7204_b.jpg


Products used (and water of course):

36755969280_4af45fb3ed_b.jpg


It came out very clean, looks even better in person. I do this on all our vehicles and never bag or cover anything, just careful with where I am spraying and have never had a problem on any vehicle. Don't forget to clean the underside of the hood too.
 
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As stupid as this sounds, there should be a "how to" or sticky on cleaning the engine bay and what products people use for each component.

Personally I would pull the battery and bag the alt, service port, fusebox, any extra relays/ballasts, etc just to be safe - but I also like to make extra work for myself

Which reminds me, need to degrease and clean off my skid plates.
 
I usually spray simple green then rinse it with hose. Try and avoid electrical things. Let it air dry. Then use a compressor to blow out he rest out
 
I haven't cleaned mine sine I got the truck basically a few years ago. I want to clean it, but as soon as it gets out into the dust/dirt again it's dirty so it's hard to make it a priority. I try to keep up with cleaning the outside more often since that's what you see.
 
Unner said:
I haven't cleaned mine sine I got the truck basically a few years ago. I want to clean it, but as soon as it gets out into the dust/dirt again it's dirty so it's hard to make it a priority. I try to keep up with cleaning the outside more often since that's what you see.
Click to expand...

You can tell who on this thread goes 4-wheeling and who does not lol. Which is also why I haven't cleaned mine for a few years...
 
Having a diy video would be nice! Ahem [MENTION=120071]mtbtim[/MENTION] and [MENTION=102606]infamousRNR[/MENTION] haha. Mines dirty AF and i would love to have it looking half as nice as the ones ive seen on this thread that are “dirty” lol. [MENTION=116470]Tyler James Inc[/MENTION] also did a grear job of cleaning his engine bay in build thread
 
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This is after about 6-9 months of driving with some offroading:

QxC4dCb.jpg


Its a little more dusty now (another 9 months later), but as long as you stay out of deep mud, it stays pretty clean... as long as you keep leaks under control and don't use any products that attract dirt.

-Charlie
 
octanejunkie said:
As stupid as this sounds, there should be a "how to" or sticky on cleaning the engine bay and what products people use for each component.

Personally I would pull the battery and bag the alt, service port, fusebox, any extra relays/ballasts, etc just to be safe - but I also like to make extra work for myself

Which reminds me, need to degrease and clean off my skid plates.
Click to expand...

Battery and alternator don't care about spray from the water. The biggest thing would be to not use a pressure washer as it can rip sensor wires off or force water down into spark plug holes and cause misfires.

Use nothing more than a garden hose and some degreaser, purple power, simple green, etc and a brush or two.

I used to detail vehicles for a dealership and back when cars had distributors, they could get water in them and cause poor performance. Now, as long as the force from a garden hose isn't too great, there's little chance of blowing off a vacuum line or sensor connector, but with a pressure washer, there's a much greater chance of breaking something.
 
I just use Simple Green and a waterhose with adjustable sprayer. Bag off the obvious electrical.
I park out in the sun so it'll dry faster before 1st start up, and I also used some electrical contact cleaner spray on the obvious plugs to force any sneaky water droplets out.
 
Solidape said:
Battery and alternator don't care about spray from the water. The biggest thing would be to not use a pressure washer as it can rip sensor wires off or force water down into spark plug holes and cause misfires.

Use nothing more than a garden hose and some degreaser, purple power, simple green, etc and a brush or two.

I used to detail vehicles for a dealership and back when cars had distributors, they could get water in them and cause poor performance. Now, as long as the force from a garden hose isn't too great, there's little chance of blowing off a vacuum line or sensor connector, but with a pressure washer, there's a much greater chance of breaking something.
Click to expand...

Haha, I was going to mention the distributor, been there done that. But I figure some of the people on here wouldn't really be able to relate :)
 
kolelt said:
I usually spray simple green then rinse it with hose. Try and avoid electrical things. Let it air dry. Then use a compressor to blow out he rest out
Click to expand...

This. Simple Green is a great non-corrosive, non-toxic degreaser. If you leave Purple Power on stuff too long it will eat it up.

After the engine bay dries a bit I like to take the truck for a spin to bake the rest of the moisture off.

If you have a 4 banger where the spark plug tubes are vertical, be careful not to get water down in them. That happened on an on Honda of mine and it misfired until it was dry.
 
I just mist the warm engine and spray a citric cleaner I get from true value. Then let it sit 10min and rinse it off with the shower setting. I usually repete this two more times.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
At my sons house we have an old water heater in the barn, we let it heat up, hook a hose to the drain and shoot hot water on the motorcycles and cars engines. We also have one that has a handle to it that hooks to the air compressor for a cheap and dirty steam cleaner.I have not done it to this 4 runner, it has not gotten that dirty that just a regular rinse off does the job when IM washing the exterior
I used to be more picky, but not so much anymore
 
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