OK - its been a while since I sprayed the can of engine wash on the engine then hosed it off only to have the truck not start for for 2 days. That was an s10 20 years back with a cracked distributor cap but none the less not looking to repeat that. Anybody have any experience or advice on cleaning up the engine/compartment on my '03 f150 without damaging something or putting it out of commision for a day or two?

thanks for any input/suggestions

 

Try a search on this as it has been discused before. I have hosed my engine compartment down with High hose pressure and had no ill effects.

I do not recomend it though, and after reading some threads here I may not do it again.

If you choose to do it, be very careful of the electronics.

 

I gave the.........
A buddy of mine gave the engine compartment a quick blast at the car wash
and fried out a COP. The truck did run fine for a couple days, but then started acting up after that. It dosn't take much moister in the plug wells to fry one out.

 

i suggest letting the engine cool off before spraying it with anything because cold water+hot engine=big problem

 

In stead of high pressure I have used a can of gunk sprayed carefully so as not to soak any electronics and a plain garden hose. I had no problems but again take care not to spray directly on to any electronics as much as possible.

 

Used correctly, a pressure washer will put out only a fraction of the amount of water that a straight hose will put out.

If you hold the PW about 2' away, all you get is a light mist spray. A hose will dump gallons of water on the engine and that's what drowns it...

I've cleaned my engine several times and have never had a problem... I also use Bosch + 4 plugs with no problems (100,000 miles so far). I don't have a Magnaflow or Flowmaster muffler and have decent sound and low end power....

Lets see, what else.... I started using Mobil 1 at 85,000 miles (no problems). I change the oil and filter every 6,000 miles. (162,000 miles on the truck now and I do use a MC oil filter). I've got a drop in K&N filter for the last 100,000 miles... (no problems and have only cleaned it twice)

This board has tons of good people and tons of good advice... But, none of it is 'gospel' and not everything bad happens to everyone....

Use some common sense and don't believe that the sky is falling or that the world is flat and you'll do fine....

Mitch

 

id recomend a steam cleaner... any water thats sprayed on evaporates.

 

Been cleaning my engines every 6 months or so with a can of Gunk and a water hose. After 15 years, haven't had any problems. Of course, I wouldn't spray water on a hot engine. I'd be wary of using a pressure washer on an engine, though I've seen them used quite often at dealerships.

 

Same thing happened to me. I have always said not to wash the engine, but I decided to be a dumbass the other day and wash mine. It ran fine, but the next morning, it was running on 7. I scanned the pcm with the edge: misfire-cylinder 8. So I took the COP and spark plug out (#8 PITA) and dried it out and put it back on. I haven't had any problems yet. The injectors were the devil to put back on. If you don't want to spend an hour or two under your hood tracing COP problems, don't wash it. EVER! Mine went 176,000 miles without a SINGLE engine problem, and I just HAD to wash it. The bling of my brother's new truck got the better of me...

 

Mine gets washed 3 or 4 times a year always at the quarter car scratcher. I use about 2/3 of a can of Prestone Steam Clean engine cleaner, spray it on heavy over EVERYthing, rinse the rest of the truck, then come back and rinse the stuff under the hood. It always comes out looking squeaky clean, with no ill effects (so far... knocking on wood).

The key is to maintain a decent distance so as not to blow the water into critical components. I don't get the nozzle up close and personal with the components. I just use it to rinse the gunk, that's all.

-Joe

 

Be sure that if your engine is hot, either let it cool and then wash, or wash while the engine is running...like someone else has said cool water+hot engine=big fing problems.

Good luck..._motes

 

well I always use a spray bottle of simple green, with the foam acuator just spray it on and let it sit a few usually while im doing my wheels and tires... then come back to it with the pressure washer(mines small only 1400 psi in a jet, but i adjust it to fan its probably only 750 or 800 psi like that). I wash my mustang engine the same wayand its an 88 they used to come with a rubber boot around the distubutor to keep it from getting wet, and i never have any problems out of it. I have just recently tried the gunk products and the new gel formula works pretty good for caked on grease. but ill probably stick with the simple green used it in the army and it will eat grease better than anything plus its the safest chemical you can store, completely non toxic and bio-degradable for the environmentally conscious.

 

I washed mine with a garden hose and burnt out #7 COP. I will not do this anymore.