How to Properly Clean the Engine Bay of Your Car
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How to Clean Your Car's Engine Bay Effectively
Keeping your car’s engine bay clean will prevent any premature damage and keep the engine parts in good working condition. An engine bay smudged with oil and grime will predispose the engine to malfunction issues such as overheating, dislodgement of parts, and masking of serious leaks.
Fortunately, cleaning the engine bay is as simple as cleaning the toilet and will only take you about an hour to complete. All you need is the right cleaning products, wash off the washable parts, and keep the electric parts dry and clean.
Required Materials for Cleaning
Here’s what you will need for this cleaning chore:
- Water hose or jet
- Pail or bucket
- Plastic covers or bags
- Wash brush
- Wash mitt
- Car wash soap
- Engine degreaser
- Metal and plastic cleaner or polish
- Clean towels or rag
- Absorbent pads
- Drip pans
Steps for Cleaning the Engine Bay
Follow these steps for cleaning the engine bay properly:
- Allow your engine to cool off. Open the hood to let the air cool the engine for about an hour. Do not hose the hot parts with cold water as this can cause the parts to become brittle and crack.
- Place the drip pans and absorbent pads under the engine bay to catch and absorb oily dirt and grime.
- Cover the battery, alternator parts, carburetor, and distributor parts with plastic covers or bags to protect them from water.
- Once the electricity-conducting parts are covered, safely hose down the engine parts to rinse off grime, dust, and oil.
- After hosing down the parts thoroughly, spray the degreaser on them to effectively remove oil and grease.
- Apply a liberal amount of degreaser and use a wash brush to scrub off the greasy grime.
- Rinse off the degreaser and all the grease that was scrubbed off.
- If dirt remains, apply car wash soap and let it soak as per the instructions on your car soap’s label.
- After soaking, use the wash brush to gently scrub off remaining dirt.
- Rinse the soap off and check if all dirt is cleared.
- For heavily soiled engines, repeat the degreaser and car wash soap applications until clean.
- Clean the rest of the engine bay with car wash soap using the wash mitt.
- Rinse everything off once done scrubbing.
- Remove the plastic covers from electricity-conducting parts and clean them if necessary.
- Let the fuse box covers dry before replacing them.
- Using a metal and plastic polish, wipe the parts to shine them up.
After all is done, put away your washing tools and clean them separately. Dispose of the dirty water in the drip pan and absorbent pads properly, preferably by taking them to a recycler.
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