Ditto. 140K on stock cops and alternator. I do not let the Simple green dry and sometimes I will also use Gunk Engine Brite foaming cleaner.

 

That simple green is expensive and it reeks lol. It does work tho. I use Windex for everything, even the MAF when I have the intake removed - No H2O, -ever. Windex works great on cuts as well, doesn't leave a scar.

 

Brew- would those be glass cuts that you use the Windex on? Don't you think that's taking this "neatness" thing a little too far? I wouldn't say SG reeks, I'd say it chokes! I spray that stuff and it takes my breath away (that's right before I begin choking) Course maybe I shouldn't mix it quite so strong.

 

simple green kicks ***...we use it on our fire engines

 

i pick it up at home depot for $8.45 a gallon, if that's expensive,lol

 

Iduno, those glass cleaners are very versatile. Yea, I do like things neat, maybe a little ate up about it, who knows?

That SG cleans your sinuses then goes for more lol. It's no good on rubber, specially if you let it sit to long. Works great on metal, but again, it can't sit to long, you gottuh get on it lol. I like to take a little more time I guess.

NAPA use to have a great engine cleaner, I can't recall what it was called?

 

Yea, that's right, Home Depot sells various cleaners by the gallon, -grease cutters. $8.45 is a great deal , since they sell 1/4 of that for over 5 bucks at an auto supply.

 

In the 4 years I've owned my F150, I've never cleaned the engine bay. It doesn't look THAT bad, but I'm just worried about the COPs...

My Ranger before, I'd wash the engine bay with engine degreaser and spray it down with a water hose everytime I washed the truck.

 

I wash the engine bay every time I take my Lightning to the car wash. I have done the SuperCrew 2 or 3 times since I got it because it was soo nasty!! No issues so far??

 

Your luck will run out at some point. Water and electronics never mix well. Wether it be the factory dielectric grease drying up in a connecter or to many times filling the plug chambers, your luck will run out and when it does, many are left scratching their head. ?? - Who knows what you screwed up ? It's just not very smart IMO. To large of an investment to be treating that way and taking that kind of chance.

 

Mine doesn't get dirty either, I take care of it now - without hosing her down, you don't need to

 

All it takes is one time where you fry a COP and spend hours chasing it trying to resolve and I just about guarantee you will not wash your engine again! I suppose if you're very careful to keep water away from sensitive parts it can be ok, but just not worth it IMO. I might carefully spray parts below the COP's, but nothing more.

Yah, Ford does recommend it or at least used to in the manual, but you think they're going to fix a problem as a result of washing??

I've been using a leaf blower to clean the engine at every bath to try and keep the dust and dirt off it and it does a relatively good job. Good enough to keep me from wanting to take the hose to it.

 

This past summer when my water pump went out, we had everything done, and had a few cans of engine degreaser laying around. Sprayed the sucker down, hosed it off. Next day it started missing, blew two spark plugs. Never doing that again! Also had the same thing happen once when I went offroading and hit a large puddle. Plugs + water = bad plugs.

 

The COPs are potted to prevent water infiltration. Once that potting is cracked the COPs life is limited anyway and water in those cracks will push it over the edge. Water around the plugs themselves is a non-issue as it will dry out on the way home from the car wash.

 

Was just a little play on words in the subject and a little "tongue-in-cheek" Brew. Never too neat for me, but then I'm one of those that uses a pressure washer on my engine. Maybe next time I'll remove the COP's and plug the holes, but I've never had problems yet. I do like a clean engine compartment. I did have problems with the SG taking the shine off the Motorola mic's so I resorted to glass cleaner.