How to Wash Your Engine

RUNCOOL TECH TIP:

WASH YOUR ENGINE! HERE’S HOW!

by RunCool president, Bob Buerlein, based on his 40+ years of experience doing this with vehicles in his collection.

You wash your human body regularly. You wash your dog regularly. You wash your clothes regularly. So why wouldn’t you wash your engine and engine compartment regularly?

I. Reasons to do so:

A. It looks much better!

B. You will see leaks (oil, coolant, power steering fluid, etc.) on it much sooner – – which can prevent bad things from happening!

C. Fewer engine fires! When oil leaks from, for example, a valve cover gasket, it can, in turn, drip across a HOT exhaust manifold/header = ENGINE FIRE!  Be pre-emptive! See the leak much earlier with a clean engine, wipe it off, and correct the leak to prevent a fire!

D. You will get better work when you take your vehicle in for service.

Q. I asked my tech, “Billy, if someone comes in with a clean engine, do you
do better work on that vehicle than with a dirty engine?

A. “Yep! It shows they take pride in their vehicle – so I’ll take more pride working on it.”

II. The BEST way to wash your engine (based on my 45 years of experience):

A. Using plastic bags or tin foil, cover (to waterproof) the distributor (if you have one) and the alternator (so you don’t wash the oil out of the bearings). Avoid heavy blasting of these areas with water.

B. From cold, start your engine and let it run for 4 – 5 minutes or so until the valve covers (cam covers) get warm (NOT hot).

C. Spray down your engine and engine compartment. (Think spring shower vs. monsoon!)

D. Get Liquid Tide laundry detergent (in my 45 years of washing my engines, I’ve tried all of the commercial “Engine Spray Cleaners”; none comes close to Tide!) Also, Dawn liquid dishwashing detergent (“cuts grease”) works well!

E. Buy a parts-cleaner brush at your automotive parts store – – long 8” – 10” handle; 3”-long (fiber bristles – – not wire!). This gets into the spark plug recesses and the nooks and crannies.

F. Take a cup of the undiluted detergent and pour it/slop it all over the engine and the engine bay. Take a wet cloth rag soaked with the detergent and slop the cleaner all over the engine and engine compartment. (No, you’re not washing your wife’s fine crystal – – so slop it all over!)

G. Very lightly, spray a fine mist of water over all of the soapy areas.

H. Take your parts-cleaner brush and scrub into the recessed areas.

I. Take your soaked rag and slop down/wash the other areas – inner fender wells, radiator shroud, valve covers, etc.

J. Very lightly, spray a quick mist over all of the area.

K. Let the soap soak for 1-2 minutes – – but no more than that, because it is still somewhat concentrated and strong.

L. Thoroughly, but carefully, rinse off the soap and the grime.
Careful: In so doing, don’t blast the concentrated soap onto your exterior paint,
as this can remove your wax and dull the paint!!

M. Hose down your exterior paint if soap got on it.

N. When you’ve washed off all the soap from the engine and engine room, remove the protective plastic or tin foil you put over the alternator and the distributor.

O. Close the hood most of the way (so the cooling fan doesn’t spray water on the vehicle’s exterior), but leave it slightly open (so the water can evaporate).

P. Start the engine. Here are three possibilities, in descending order of likelihood, and what to do:
What Happens What To Do

a. It starts right up. a. Let it idle for 10 minutes
to dry off most of the
water.

b. It starts, but with slight difficulty, b. Play with throttle to keep
and it idles slightly rough. it going; it will soon dry out and run fine. Then go
to Step “a”.

c. It doesn’t want to start. c. Don’t run down the battery trying. Keep the hood open. Let it dry out. Wait 15 minutes and try again.
Continue this cycle until it starts (which it will!). Then go to Step “a”.

Q. During this running in of the engine, the engine’s fan might spray water onto the exterior paint. If so, hose it off, in case it still has some soap in it.

R. Come back with a dry, clean, soft rag and wipe off any water spots on your chromed valve covers, air cleaner lid, etc.

S. Leave the hood cracked open as long as practical to aid evaporation.

T. Impress yourself, your motorhead car buddies, your mechanic/technician and all who appreciate things mechanical with your like-new engine room!

U. Re-clean the engine compartment as often as you like. (Warning: Keeping your engine compartment clean can become addictive!).

Run cool!

Bob