Cleaning Engine

[texaselite]

Anyone have some advice on cleaning the engine (had some oil leaks in past) of the gunk and dust that has accumulated over the years? Any soap or spray that is recommended? What about hosing off with water? Is this going to be ok...any parts I need to cover up with plastic bag or foil assuming hosing down is ok? Any information is appreciated.

[Jeemy]

While I can't claim to be an expert on how many of the areas of the Elan engine bay are water-sensitive, general practice is to remove caps and cover the carburettor throat, distributor/alternator caps, and air filter intake with several layers of plastic, held on via a rubber band, then put a towel over them.

Some people have said that engines are subject to so much ingress of water that you should assume that its fine just to pressure wash, others that you should never do it, what I've always done is to pressure wash once on the first detail run, then use paper towels thereafter to pull dirt/water straight off without it dripping. I finish up with white rags which I buy in 7m bundles, already cut up, for about £8 over here.

Put towels over the engine bay if you are cleaning the hood, again, some people clean it last so it doesn't drip on them, others first so it can't risk dripping dirty water into the engine bay because its clean already. When I detail a car, or an engine bay, I take 3 days at it, starting on the hood or door inners & rubber seals, moving onto the major cleaning and washing, then on the final day, using cleaning and buffing/polishing/glazing products.

Once its done, you should aim to never have to pressure wash again by monthly applications of degreaser with a detailing brush, and back off with paper towels. My Audi is my main driving car, does 20-50 miles a day, and once a month is enough to keep the engine bay absolutely gleaming.

With the foam heat/sound insulation inside the Elan bonnet I don't know what to do, especially as mine is perishing; I'm planning on painting this with rubberised paint and cleaning around the outside using brushes, G101 and paper towels.

I use a product called G101 diluted 7:1 on the first pass, and 10:1 thereafter to degrease engine compartments. I believe Simple Green is well rated across the pond. Before a major wet degrease, as much prep as you can do checking electrical junctions, spark plug covers etc are not exposed, cracked or likely to let water ingress, is very sensible.

Once I've pressure washed the compartment, I generally run the engine immediately for 15-20 minutes to dry it out again. This is partly because I'm usually in a blind panic the vehicle will even start again. Others might suggest leaving it for days before trying, but imho that way unexpected rust/corrosion lies.

Once thats done I go again with the G101, use a product called Tardis for built-up adhesive, grease, or other gunk, and go area-by-area wiping off with paper towels immediately, then run over the whole visible area with white rags so you can see whats coming off.

Finally Meguiars are my brand of choice but there are hundreds, they do a very good multipurpose cleaner/polisher safe for everything from metal parts to hoses, and a detailing product ditto. Mothers' Billet is the best polish I have seen for billet, chrome or aluminium parts but Megs' NXT is also great.

I've not done my Elan yet, it will get the first pressure-wash clean before the turbo and exhaust come out, and then it will get the second 'dry wash' using localised spray and paper towels, after its all back on. I don't really trust any cleaning while intakes and junctions are exposed, and am going to be simply hoping it all starts up again anyway, I wouldn't be using the pressure washer if there wasn't so much work getting done anyway that I'll have to examine every aspect before putting it back on the road. Just because I think in a 20-year-old car, so many hidden gaskets and rubber seals, could have perished, that its not worth it. On a more modern German or Japanese motor I wouldn't hesitate to douse the whole thing in degreaser and wash it all off on a first pass; but the distributor cap is I believe the one area that you should always locate and mask off.

The air filter cover can also be problematic if clips have broken and not been noticed. Its worth looking at every major part, (especially for me) checking you know what it is and what the major connections are; I generally wrap the electrical wires in catering clingfilm which I buy in giant wraps (I think you guys call it Saran Wrap?) and then clean those by spraying the Megs' detailing spray onto a rag, holding one end and pulling down the wire with the rag.

To learn how to do all this I got a book called Engine Detailing by David H Bishops I think is the name - its not here - and after people on the street saw me doing mine, I get quite a bit of weekend cash from word of mouth, doing other people's engines.

One tip from that book is that all the hose clip screws should point the same way. Seems facile until you actually do it, it lends loads of neatness to an engine compartment and is something I am quite happy to do even on an unfamiliar car, just loosen, twist and retighten. If it ever came to it that I broke a seal due to perished rubber underneath, I guess I'd just point that out to the client that it failed a "safety check", but most of the cars round here are little runarounds under5 years old and its not an issue.

I'd guess the Elan will need a lot more planning and "measure twice, cut once" should be the modus. I'll be doing mine stage 1 next week and will post pics to my thread.

One other tip; if you are using paintbrushes to clean the harder to reach areas, be sure to wrap the metal part in gaffer tape to stop the risk of scratching. Or buy detailers' brushes, they aren't expensive.

[DeanG]

I use S100 motorcycle cleaner. Cold engine and lots of water to wash it off. A fine spray or a hose with no nozzle. Be very gentle on the decals and stickers. Be careful around electronics especially the igniter. Some people use plastic bags to cover sensitive items. Consider just covering things with a place mat to keep masses of water off things. Use a leaf blower (electric) to blow dry. When preparing for a car show I occasionally use S100 dressing (I'm not sure of the actual product name) to give everything a nice sheen. Keep the dressing off the turbo it gets too hot for this product. This level of cleaning and shining is good enough for even a regional car show.

Like the gentleman said you should only have to do a deep cleaning once. After that you are just keeping it nice.

[hatters]

Not a good idea to jet wash the engine IMHO water is very searching and it will get in all sorts of places its not welcome