"Engine Bay Detail" Auto Detailer's Tip

[skatexATMx]

hahaha lamb of god was sooo not expected!

[iancloud2001]

LOVE THE MUSIC.

[cebarnold2]

btw - I got a cheap 200hp electric leaf blower for ym motorcycle and it also works great on cars as well (interior and exterior).

[Copywrittin97]

Do you have the engine running when you spray the pressure washer on it?

[Darkc0w]

Why do you want to wet the paint before using the super clean? Aren't you using it underneath the hood?

[DanTheManFromTexas]

@Darkc0w i think he wets it because the degreaser is a concentrate and majority of the time if it gets on your paint it will mess it up , or while he's spraying if some of the product was to magically get onto other parts of the car it wont mess up the paint because you sprayed it with water. if that helps you any.

[Exelbaradin]

dont you have to cover short ram air intakes to not get water in the engine...

[Jak3Mac]

Your spurts with the spray bottle were pretty in sync with the music. Nice job.

Good video too.

[slowasscivic]

Best part of the video... LAMB OF GOD!

[politowic]

Nice vid. I rated your video too. Check out my videos on auto detailing and tell me what you think.

-Politowic

[politowic]

Nice vid. I rated your video too. Check out my videos on auto detailing and tell me what you think.

-Politowic

[SouthernWhiteTrash]

nice.

[ronburgendy245]

holy crap i cant believe you didnt cover up the alternator that is not even the slightest bit safe

[starbucksmunky]

Might add that if you have a big oil leak, do not degrease your engine. It will only get worse. Trust me.

[IR0BI]

i cover around 4 components on mine. This vid wont work for a bmw

[ascheepe]

Well when I tried a couple of weeks back my car wouldn't start anymore, I soaked the sparkplugs and some electronics ;s

So; I like to blow stuff dry with a compressor afterwards (and leave it open in the sun for a day) and sprayed some wd40 on several contacts beforehand.

[squinja7000]

Hey great tutorial!

How long do you let the degreaser stay on the engine before you use pressure washer?

I've seen people running their engines when spraying it off with water to make the engine bay dry out faster... is that a bad idea?

Thanks

[zurielgarcia]

Awesome.. I like the tips about the pressure washer and wetting the entire car first. i have a can of Gunk...what do you think about that stuff?

[chr1s88blue]

EXTREEEME SPRAYING !!! YAAA! haha wats up with the music lol

[satansmusic2009]

and disturbed lol

[red666A]

Curious to know do you have to cover the battery, alternator, electrical wire?

[politowic]

I have never covered anything from the elements and I have never had a problem yet. I hope this helps.

[JEEPIOIIIIIIIIOI]

@politowic Just thought you should know every time I have ever did this same stuff after I mudded my jeep all day... My TPS is often destroyed by the water the next day. you are apt to cause damage one day and regret not covering it.

[Boodieman72]

Use a steam cleaner and be done with it!

[politowic]

Ok thank you. I tried a steam cleaner and the results were not as well a the pressure washer. I tried again thinking that maybe the last time was just cooinsidence, but the same thing happened-not as a good result as the PW.

[professorxox]

Do you worry about getting the electrical parts wet?

[politowic]

I have never covered anything from the elements and I have never had a problem yet. I hope this helps.

[saaber24]

Hi, Have you worked on a Saab 9000 2.3 turbo engine before?Was there anything you needed to cover before spraying that stuff on?

[politowic]

I have never covered anything from the elements and I have never had a problem yet. I hope this helps.

[politowic]

Using a pressure washer is the best course of action only because there is very little water being sprayed. If you spray the water from the PW without the presure you'll see how little water comes out. The PW uses the same amount of water in pressurized form.

[johndojones]

Thanks politowic and loveja1. Should we spray down the inside of the hood before spraying it with Super Clean?? Or go at it full strength with no inside rinse. I know to spray the outside paint area from you bug removal vid.

[politowic]

You don't have to worry about wetting the underhood, because normall on the vehicles, the paint job from the factory is so aweful anyway (mostly overspray paintjob) that there's no way you can make it look any worse.

[tuffnugly454]

Hey man, I got an 06 F150 5.4 What's your experiences like with these engines? I'm assuming you use the same procedure?

Good taste in music too!

[politowic]

I have detailed many F-150s, F-250s, and even F-350s-dielsel and gas engines, and never had a problem with one yet. Hope this helps.

[johndojones]

politowic. I have 92 celica. Do I need to cover anything before I do Super Clean and power wash?? How bout battery?? Alternator???

[loveja1]

Normally you just want to do the outer area of the motor, and gently spray the motor itself, to help you out a bit, let the motor run for a bit till it gets nice and hot, it helps remove the grime easier, the reason he wet the car which he forgot to mention is because most degreases will stain the paint, I like to use soap and water.

[politowic]

I have had only two vehicles in my lifetime of detailing thousands of vehicles that had engine problems, and that was to let the engine dry because there was a little water in the distributor. Those were a Mitsubishi Eclipse, and a Toyota Celica. After the engine dried out, the car was fine. So if you need to know if the Celica is alright, then leave the engine running to avoid this problem.

[GladiusR]

Dude, are you crazy?! cover the critical electrical parts!! Ok, that's a prehistorical hamburger tech sedan, but try doing that in anything with GDI and a sophisticated engine management and you're walking to work.

Seriously, this tutorial is like using an escavator where you need to be scalpel accurate.

to dry the engine just start it and let it run, what do you need a pressure drier for? to ram more water into the ECU?

[politowic]

I have done many upon many vehicles this way, all brands, makes, and models, years, and different engines and have not had ONE problem yet.

Thank you though for your consideration in adding a comment.

[69chevyboy]

Compressed air you dumb ass do know how dumb you will look using a leafblower on your engine.

[cooolcars]

using a leaf blower will still work the same. if anything its a good idea not to use compressed air as you could blow a gasket or something important out of its place.

[politowic]

Ooookkkkaayyyy?

[cooolcars]

what do you mean okayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

[politowic]

Simply implying that I never heard of a leaf blower method, and never heard once that compressed air will damage gaskets. If that was the case, then the large volume of air from the throttle body will have blown the gaskets over and over again.

[cooolcars]

oh right. im wrong then aw well. by the way i did clean my diesel engine with a pressure washer yesterday and it went really well. but how do you polish the valve cover?

[politowic]

When you say polish, do you mean polish, or dress it with shiner? Is it a black plastic piece covering the actual valve cover, or is it the actual valve cover which is painted metal valve cover?

[cooolcars]

i mean bring it back to when it was brand new. its an aluminium valve cover as well.i have already tried metal polish but thats not working.

[politowic]

My best bet is to tell you to take it to a local mechanic, have them romove it (after your engine is dry) and while you're there, lightly buff it with any aluminum buufing agents available on the market, and then apply a sealer to seal from any corrosion and/or water damage.

[cooolcars]

i know how to remove the valve cover. should i use a wire brush on a drill?

[politowic]

Hell no, don't use a wire brush! You'll never get a shine that way, in fact, you'll scratch the shit out of it. Go to Advance Auto Parts and ask them for an aluminum valve cover polishing kit. It'll have 5 different attachments to use on a drill, and 3 differnt compounds. Aslo ask for an aluminum sealer.

[cooolcars]

i dont live in america. i live in england. well i have just found out that its just a cover to make it look nice so i will spray it soon red because my car is red.

[professorxox]

Is this the process you use to detail your customers' cars? You spray that stuff on and pressure wash the engine bay?

[politowic]

Yes, why? Everything works out great and it gets it detailed and there are never any problems.

[cooolcars]

i guarentee that 1 little thing went wrong when you cleaned your engine

[johndojones]

Autozone sells SuperClean.  Didn't see before I bought their other cleaner... dammit!!!

[starbucksmunky]

Just spray WD40 on any wires that you need to cover. WD stands for Water Displacement, so thats what it is actually for.

[veryslyfox]

What the hell? If you use a pressure washer you must cover the electrical contacts and alternator and battery terminals. If you use non-pressure running water, you only need to cover open areas like the alternator and air filter box. For drying just use a leaf blower :D

[politowic]

Huh? A leaf blower? Ok?! If you say so.  Anyone else want to poke fun at the obvious here, because it's just too easy for me to do.

[AJxn3]

lol @ "leaf blower"

And you could also use a lawn mower to vaccuum the carpet... but maybe that would be over-doing it.

[music521]

wow...wth...what happened to covering the distrib. cap, batt. and other wires. same with the ig. coil...wouldnt be suprised if someone followed this and their start didnt start up the next time.

[thomasphifer]

it seems there are too many wires to cover, the whole engine would have to be covered, jeep cher.

[mikeylee2001]

You dont want to get that degreaser on your paint.

[AnusTube]

i laughed when the hardcore cleaning music came on. :P

[johnnyjohn2005]

get sandwich or freezer bags, cover the ECU, throttle body, alternator, battery and other other component that has visable wires attached. Elastic bands are a good way to keep them in place.

[JET87T]

u dnt hav to bag anything.. jonny b good

u just use a water disperspirant if the engine dusnt start up but wen u wash off the degreaser always have the engine running and to polish it up jus use sum tire shine at the end when evrythings dry

[Irkie500]

thank god someone who actually knows this, i hate to see people who clean really well but dont protect all the electrical components.

[camarosource]

No Videos found for 'What "LOW GLOSS" spray did you put on the entire bay? Says you applied a Low Gloss spray but didn't mention which one...

[sallysue35]

newer cars are easy to steam clean just to let you guys know

[SoundGuyDavo]

i agree, definitely cover any 'open' electrical parts like a distributor or alternator, etc.

[Starchdrummer2]

When you pressure wash your engine bay it is a good idea to cover your distributor.

The distributor is the one of the worst places to get water and will cause a hesitation on acceleration.

If you get water in your intake you get hydro lock and get to buy a new engine because yours will be blown.

politowic you make great videos This is just information coming from a tuner base and having experienced water in the distributor before.

[hondadrvr3]

A hydrolocked motor isn't blown...And doesn't have to be replaced.

Great info though, Politowic!

[tearscratch31]

{hOW MUCH PSI DOES THAT PRESSURE WASHER HAVE AND WILL IT MESS ANYTHING UP?

[eldervegas]

Great tutorial, very helpful. Whats the purpose of spraying the paint beforehand with water? Is it so the Super Clean doesnt come into direct contact with the paint? Thanks.

[Alibi1986]

What the presenter never mentions is that CSC (castrol super clean) is an excellent paint stripper. By wetting down the surface of the car it keeps the CSC from contacting and destroying the paint.

[mikehabibi]

I wish I had an air gun or a motorcycle dryer for that matter...it makes the process easier.

[ky0suk3]

so politowic it is ok to cover everything with super clean even the sparkplugs? or i need plastic to cover those stuff?

[politowic]

That all depends on what type of engine you have. My suggestion is to contact your local auto dealer, and ask them if your vehicle could suffer water damage from a pressure washer. Typically however, a pressure washer shouldn't affect the performance of most engines.

Hope this helps

[Gotskillz88]

this is a great tutorial, but how risky (in terms of damaging the cables)is this process? would I have to cover the air intake? thanx!

[politowic]

This is tricky. The reason why is because cables and hoses can suffer damage from regular wear and tear of your vehicle. Check the hoses and cables and make sure they aren't damaged. If you find no damage, then you can proceed with this tutorial.

Intake covered? If it's a carburated engine, then yes, if it's fuel injected, typically no, but for safe measures, if you want to, all the better.

Hope this helps

[Armilp]

Pretty nice vid. That pressure washer hose, you just attached it to your water hose? or do you need to buy one of those compressor machines like for the air gun you got?

Should you cover up the alternator before this? Because I took my car to have it engine cleaned, and them bastards ended up wetting something that wasn't supposed to get wet. And My car for a week ran like crap. I press down on the gas, and it seemed like someone was pressing the accelerator in n out repeatedly.

[politowic]

Thnk you for the comment. The pressure washer is a unit in a whole. You can purchase attachments for your garden hose, but these attachments wouldn't have as much pressure as the whole system would. If you can't afford a pressure washer system, then just go to your local car wash.

The altenator doesn't NEED covered up. The reason your vehicle was running laggish, sounds to me because you had water in your intake.

Take care.

[baller3skywalker]

thanks alot

[politowic]

It depends on the vehichle. Every vehicle is like a fingerprint (no two are alike). I can tell you though, I have done quite a few Mitsubishis and never had a problem. HTH.

[baller3skywalker]

hi i have a mitsubishi lancer 2002 . and ive read a couple of other articals on cleaning car engines. and some said it was important to cover up eletrical stuff with plastic bags and stuff like that. is it really nesseary to do that and if so what is the most important places to cover so they dont get wet? thanks for this video

[InteriorDecorator]

When you going to give us a video on what type of products to use in your interior. I find what I'm using is either greasy or tacky and collects every ounce of dust particles. I want that just bought look that shines but isn't gritty. any suggestions.

oh, and the engine cleaning worked mavelously. thanks for that very helpful tip. the only problem i had was not enoguh hose pressure. otherwise it cleaned and hopefully brings a few extra bucks on the resale.

[politowic]

"Professional's Favorite No Cracks No Peels" is the interior dressing I use. It has a watermellon scent. You spray it on, wipe it in, and use a microfiber towel to buf it off. It has a LOW GLOSS shine to it which makes the panels look brand new. And it's NON-SILICONE (which means it's non greasy, and DOESN'T attract dust).

[tkdguy09]

Thanks man for the information video. Although I will not be using Super Clean on my engine, because I already bought another product at Autozone lol

[InteriorDecorator]

Extremely informative! I'm cleaning up my own car for resale and never even thought of the engine. Now I'm out there cleaning that baby up and expecting to increase my sale by a few bucks. Thanks for the very easy to understand demonstration.

[politowic]

Just remember to use Super Clean on WET Paint! If the Super Clean goes on dry paint, it MAY spot and damage the paint. I'm glad you enjoyed this tip.

[thomasphifer]

There are so many wires to cover, etc. seems my whole jeep cherokee would be covered  up to keep from getting wet