On my older vehicles I would bag off the alt, fusebox, and aircleaner. Then I'd spray the hell out of it with simple green, rinse with a garden hose, then put some engine brite on it, rinse, and be done. My question is: Can I do this with these trucks? I don't like the way the intake manifold sits. Looks like it would trap way too much water. How do you guys clean your engine?

 

I think its best not to. Too much water is trapped (especially around the plugs) and creates drivability issues.

Bob

 

you can wash it,but use low pressure and try and stay away from the plugs. after your done dry it off by driving till its hot and dry.

 

Low pressure water, and try to stay away from the plugs, I washed my engine 3 months ago, and I had no problems whatsoever, I am planning on washing my engine tomorrow, I belive you should not have any problems, if worst comes to worst and some water gets into the plugs, it'll dry out after a few minutes.

 

Engine bay wash eh?

I use a combination of elbow grease, No-Touch tire foam, and a garden hose for mine. Obvioudly, some things depending upon how dirty they are, and how clean you want them to get, will require removing items to get everything truely clean.
But once that is taken care of, I the engine bay in my '89 SHO Taurus gets a monthly "dose" of No-Touch tire foam, a light wipe down, and hose off with just a garden hose. Try to avoid using a sprayer, and avoid hitting obvious no-no's like plug, rotor/cap, etc. Most of the electronics in todays engine bays are sealed up and solid state, so no real need to worry about most things getting wet.

Ill let some pics do the rest of the talkin' Dont mind the getto-prop-rod!

 

Thanks for the info, fellas. Now I just need to do it before it decides to get cold here again in SEGA.

 

Damn, thats a good looking clean taurus motor.

I run a carwash and frequently have this service requested, and I try to avoid it as much as possible. Usually, I tell people that I can't take any liability for issues caused and make them accept that fact. In 5 years, I have only had one car that had a problem, and that was that somehow water actually got into two of the cylinders.

The best method I have found that I have never had an issue with after hundreds of applications, is to use a multipurpose cleaner and spray it all over everything (not direct, just a covering mist) and then I use a high pressure gun from at least a 2-3 distance to spray it all off. The reason being, that from that distance, the water is much more greatly atomized and has no real penetrating ability. The only time I get close to the motor is when I am cleaning something that has severe buildup and even then only fron the botton of the heads down. The best bet however, is not to do it at all. For example, the 1994 model BMW 3 series can loose a computer simply from running through a high pressure car wash, because of where the computer was located under the hood and a faulty drainage system. I know thats not and F series, or even a ford for that matter, but it just shows that anything can happen

 

Holy shmitola, rustbucket -- that's the cleanest engine I've seen on an "older" car in my life!

I wash my engine bay once every six months, but my engine is nowhere near as "sparkly" as yours. Do you attribute the majority of the appearance to the no-touch tire spray, or do you simply spend long hours detailing it by hand?

 

Initially it was a ton of work detailing by hand. But once things are spit polished, it is just a matter of routine upkeep.

I am a nut as far as details go though :o

I should say this though, the engine, valve covers, timing covers, and intake have all been repainted. They have over 30k on them, and look just as fresh and clean as shown in the pics. And this is no show car (hell, its a TAURUS ) it is my daily driver and fun car. It is quite modded.

here is a pic of the stock paint setup... A little more subtle, but still very clean. This pic of my 16 year old taurus' engine bay, with a touch over 100k:

 

I sometimes have a customer whos engine is so thick with crap, work really can't be done, nor can a proper diag. for that matter. I usually take the car, a couple cans of Gunk, and a roll of quarters to the local do it yourself carwash, and clean where I need cleaned. The only issue I ever had was with an older Toyota, where several very brittle vacuum lines cracked.

Regardless of how or where you do this, just remember to do it with the engine barely warm, and to start it up and drive it for a while when finished.

 

Well, I washed it. At least, I started to and I guess God thought I needed help, cause out of nowhere, a torrential downpour came. Anyway, I did have a problem with Cyl #2 misfiring, but thanks to AUTOTAP, it was resolved in minutes. (Wet plug boot). Guess I'll try again on the next clear day. Thanks everyone, for your inputs.

 

Rustbucket,
Nice car man. I used to have the exact same car, only a 90. Had 76,000 on it when I got rid of her in 2002. That's the only car out of all the cars I've had that I actually regret getting rid of.

Have you had any tranny problems with yours? I went through 2 of em in the 3 years that I owned. Of course of those 3 years, none of them were babied. lol.