engine bay cleaning - Honda Prelude Forum

preludedude · 07-26-2001, 03:54 PM

I want to know how to make all the hoses and plastic stuff under the hood all shiny and give it a showroom look. Cause all my hoses are looking kind of white and their luster is lost. Can i just use some armorall on the hoses to make them shine, or will the armorall eat away at the hoses.NOPRUNE

Buckwild · 07-27-2001, 12:07 AM

I would try simple green in a high concentration mix!!

sphinx99 · 07-28-2001, 09:35 AM

I haven't seen a comprehensive post on how to clean the engine bay. At about 10k miles the exterior and interior of my lude are showroom, but the engine bay sure is grimey. I'd like to fix that.

I have no idea how. Once I took my old '88 to a carwash and the hand spray controller had a "clean engine" setting that had some greenish foam - I sprayed it all over the engine bay, then blasted water to wash it off, and while the engine did start it was not happy for the next two or three months. I'm pretty sure there were a few electrical "issues" as well. I had no idea at the time if that was how you clean an engine; it worked but I think I probably almost destroyed the car without knowing it.

So how do you clean the engine on a 5th gen prelude? Wash down with water/soapy spray? (If so do you wrap up anything first?) Hand-wipe everything with moist rags? HELP!

gLudeous · 07-28-2001, 10:23 AM

You have to cover the distrutor and any other exposed electrical connections otherwise the water can cause oxidation. The distributor's worst to get wet because the water can sit in there for a while and rust the rotor and contacts pretty quickly. When I looked once, my distributor rotor was a mess, rusty and burnt, and I think it's because it probably got wet some time, at least it was easy to change cap and rotor. The other connections probably aren't as troublesome as long as they get dried pretty quick.

Another thing I learned the hard way is if you use some of those engine degreaser/cleaners, be sure not to start up the engine until it's well rinsed and 100% dry, otherwise it sort of bakes on a grayish haze on everything.

Ng Luder · 07-29-2001, 12:21 AM

i highly higly DO NOT recommend u use alot of water like from a hose or somthing. instead u should use the simple soapy water and rags method. if u use too much water, it might get into electrical parts of the engine bay and other stuff like the headers and what not that can get really hot and permanantly stain the metal/platsic.

so if u do it, just use some simple soap and water and rub with some nice towels and dry immidaitely afterwards. also, dont do it after u drive the car. its a good idea to do it on a morning weekend where u havent driving the car prior to the cleaning AND wont drive the car immidiately (let it sit in the sun to dry or somthing first).

sphinx99 · 07-29-2001, 10:28 AM

Is this something a detailer would do? My boss (who drives a 911 and lets me drive it every now and then -----wwoooo hoo!!) takes his car to a touchless wash once a week and has it professionally detailed once every six or so months, usually right before winter and right after winter. He says it usually runs him about $200 a pop but they put in what would probably be 15-20 hours of his work, and you don't have to cover the cost of supplies. Now granted his car costs about 4 times as much as mine, but he was suggesting the same as a good way to keep the car in good shape...

Hobie1113 · 07-30-2001, 03:49 PM

This works on plastic stuff too, such as the stock air filter contraption and hoses and anything you want to be shiny that usually isn't, well not the engine block or something like that. I used some meguiars tire shine stuff, the one in the bottle that comes with an applicator and is supposed to last a few weeks. It makes those items under the hood look brand new. As for cleaning the engine, I just use 409 or similar degreaser, hell even Dawn works well if used conservatively, and dampen the engine, then take a small aggressive type of sponge and go over everything and then spray to rinse, being careful of the electrical components.

NikoLude · 07-31-2001, 06:52 AM

Why don't you just do it yourself and save $200, all you would have to pay for is the cost of the products, it's really not that hard.

ExodusFX · 08-01-2001, 09:35 AM

I've posted on this topic before on another board but here goes... This is the method that I use to detail my engine bay and it yeilds great results.

First off, do not wash the engine unless it is cool. (ie. you could leave your hand on the headers and it's not warm)

Materials Needed

a sponge
a cleaning brush of your choice (nothing too abrasive, I use an old toothbrush)
a bottle of simple green diluted to 30/70 (simple green/water)
saran wrap
garden hose
some clean 100% cotton towels
Meguiar's #40 professional vinyl & rubber cleaner/conditioner

Preparation
Cover/wrap any electrical component that might get wet while washing with the saran wrap. Parts to cover include the distributor, alternator, fuse box (optional) and any exposed wiring connectors.

Rinsing
Using the garden hose, rinse the engine bay using low pressure. You basically are letting the water run over the various areas of the engine bay, not blasting it. Go over each area of the engine and do not let the water run over the same spot for an extended amount of time. The goal is to let any loose dirt run off. The heavier dirt is taken care of in the next step.

Cleaning
Spray the diluted Simple Green throughout the engine bay. Give any really dirty/greasy/oily areas a good dousing. Let the Simple Green sit for a minute or two. It starts to break down the oil & grease on it's own. Now it's time to give the engine a good scrub. Easily accessable areas can be cleaned with the sponge. (underside of the hood, valve cover, exposed paint, etc.) The harder to reach and dirtier areas are what the brush is for. It's fine to spray on a little more Simple Green on areas that you need to while scrubbing.

Rinsing
After you have finished scrubbing to your heart's content, rinse the engine bay. Again, use low pressure and let the water run over the engine. You can do more scrubbing with the brush on areas that you've missed or didn't scrub as well as you thought initially. Do not stand there with the hose in your hand and water running into your engine while doing the scrubbing though!

Drying
Do not air dry the engine. Using the towels, hand dry each part of the engine/bay. Unwrap the electrical components and use one of the more damp towels to wipe them down. Then dry them with another dry towel. Hand drying ensures two things. It prevents water from sitting and seeping into places you do not want it. It also makes sure that each part is indeed clean and will not have any water spots. After all, you wouldn't let your car air dry after washing it, so do the engine bay the same courtesy.

Plastic & Hose Detail
To get your hoses and other under-the-hood plastic looking in top shape, use the Meguiar's vinyl & rubber cleaner and a clean dry towel. To avoid overspray, spray the cleaner directly onto the towel and then wipe down the hoses and other plastic. (ie. stock intake tube)

Once you have gone through the entire process, you will have a show quality engine bay that you can be proud of and your friends will envy. (Although, I've seen some dirty engine bays at car shows) For true car show appearance, a good quailty polish can be used on the painted areas of the engine. Finsh off by polishing your polished metal pieces with some metal polish and your engine will be sparkling.